Hanami
by paws-bells
Summary: ItaSaku She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Hanami

**Author: **paws-bells

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Word Count:** 4505

**Rating: **M (Contains content suitable for mature teens and older)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 22/04/08

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Hanami

(花見, _**Hanami**_ lit. "flower viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms (桜 or 櫻, _sakura_), or ume blossoms (梅, _ume_).

-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Chapter 1

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Sakura would never understand why the gods in heaven seemed to like to make fun of her so much.

Not that her life wasn't troublesome enough as it was, but the deities just had to go and do this to her. What had she done wrong to offend them thusly? Or was her whole life just a joke to them?

It must be, for Sakura was very sure that someone up there had a very cruel sense of humor.

Why else would the Fates choose to trap her and an Akatsuki together in a deadly snowstorm, of all places?

Why Uchiha Itachi, of all people?

Not that the other Akatsuki members would be better, but why was it so coincidental that she had to be seeking shelter in the same cave as the psycho Uchiha? Granted that he was hunkered down at his end of the cave and blatantly ignoring her, but Sakura had been stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was after all, well-known that the Mangekyo Sharingan user was highly unpredictable and clearly not quite right in the head, and that Sakura should probably keep a preferable ten-mile distance away from the Uchiha. But then it wasn't as if she had a choice here, seeing that she had barely made it into the cave with all limbs intact and the cold wind and heavy snow made it literally impossible for her to go back outside; that was unless she wanted to freeze to death straightaway.

So there were only two options; either she leave the relative warmth of the cave to go back out in the snow to seek shelter elsewhere, or she try to stay low on her side of the cave and not do anything to draw the attention of the Akatsuki any further than she already had.

Sakura shivered.

It was obviously winter but the snow storm had been utterly unexpected. She had been on her way back from Kirigakure after completing a mission to heal the village head there when the heavens decided to upend all the snow in the world upon her head. It had taken her nearly an hour of aimless trudging through the howling winds and blinding snow before she found this cave, and its deadly occupant. Sakura had been worried that the dark den might be occupied by a hibernating bear when she had entered cautiously, but now that she thought of it, she probably had better chances surviving against a bear than this particular Uchiha.

But still…

Sakura stared outside to the brain numbing snow storm and then back to the slightly warmer cave longingly. Inner Sakura laughed at her dilemma.

'_What will you choose, Sakura?' _

The pink-haired kunoichi knew just what she would choose. She loved her life too much to want to die just yet, but then again, she had always hated the cold with a vengeance. Taking a deep breath and praying inwardly to herself that she had not made the biggest mistake in her life (it was going to be a laughably short life if she did), Sakura ventured a little deeper into the cave, emerald eyes glued cautiously on the Akatsuki as she did so, watching for any movement that might indicate to her that he was going to jump up suddenly from his casually reclining position and 'Amaterasu' her to nothingness.

Uchiha Itachi did no such thing; he did not even bother to open his eyes to acknowledge her presence, something which Sakura was not sure annoyed or relieved her. The medic-nin ventured as closely to the unmoving male as she dared to before sitting herself down noiselessly by the opposite wall, her tensed back firmly pressed against the cold and hard surface and her eyes still stuck on the Akatsuki.

Sakura did not know how much time had passed with her stare fixated warily on the Uchiha, but she quickly got the gist that he was either very used to people looking at him like that or-

He wasn't breathing.

Sakura's emerald eyes widened as she edged a little closer to look at his still silhouette.

Was he dead?

In the dim light it was hard to make out anything other than his strikingly pale face and the distinct Akatsuki cloak. There was no way Sakura could tell from the distance if he was dead or merely asleep (though she highly doubted that the male could sleep through her noisy entrance earlier) and so she did the next best thing.

She swallowed hard and crept closer to the S-class missing-nin.

"Uchiha Itachi." Sakura called out warily as she stopped a meter away from him. There was no reply, no sound at all, and Sakura looked nervously at the Uchiha as she contemplated what to do next. Great, why was she always so lucky? Sakura did not need to be a genius to know that there was probably an entire black book of people who would gladly give their lives for a chance to kill an _unguarded_ Uchiha Itachi, but she was definitely not one of them. Besides, she was more of a healer than an assassin, so where were the Konoha ANBU when you needed them, anyway?

Damn it all, this was so troublesome.

Hesitantly Sakura reached a trembling hand out to touch the Sharingan user on his upturned wrist, then pulled back just as quickly when she did so, as if expecting him to snap open his eyes and kill her for daring to touch him. Wide emerald eyes flew towards the Uchiha's face but still his eyelids remained closed; the long, dark, and almost feminine lashes fanning his aristocratic cheekbones in a breathtaking, but deathly still manner. He didn't move at all, and feeling a little more confident (albeit a little foolish) this time the petite kunoichi rested her fingers slowly on the male's icy cold wrist once more.

Having worked continuously with patients for almost seven years already, it was an instinctual act when Sakura gathered a bit of her chakra to push them into Itachi's body gently for a diagnosis of what was affecting the dangerous shinobi. Her eyes lit up with a physician's awe when she explored his body's capacity for chakra. She did not know how it was possible, but somehow he had managed to expand his ability to store nearly thrice the amount of energy compared to that of a normal shinobi. She stared at the unconscious male in front of her; what she had just discovered had only verified to her once more that this was a very powerful, and very dangerous killer.

Then Sakura frowned.

As amazing as was his capability to store enormous quantities of chakra, there were only trace amount of it left in his body. They surged up weakly to meet her own energy, and Sakura estimated that those were the bare five percent left that was keeping him alive. She slowly pulled away from him, looking down at the almost bloodless face and the barely there breathing. The pulse on his freezing wrist was feeble and fluctuating rapidly, and now that Sakura was sitting beside him she could smell the heavy metallic scent of blood emanating from his cloaked form. Wherever it was, he was losing a lot of blood and fast.

There was no denying it; Uchiha Itachi was dying.

Judging by his rapidly declining chakra levels as well as the brittle cold that was starting to envelop the cave, he had about a day at most before he succumbed to the deadly effects of hypothermia and extensive hemorrhage.

He was going to die.

'_Well, that is unless you are willing to heal him._' Inner Sakura quipped at the moment.

The look on Sakura's face was priceless.

'Save him? You want me to save _him_?'

Her alter ego's reply was simple.

'_Can you bear not to? Can you sit across him and watch him fade away? We aren't leaving here until the storm subsides, dare you watch him die?'_

It was true that Sakura had killed before, and she knew that she would kill again. She understood that the taking of life was part and parcel of being a professional kunoichi but that hadn't meant that she enjoyed the process. Besides, she never had to stay behind and watch her victims die a slow death, and the notion that she was going to break that tradition just for one Uchiha Itachi did not sit well with her.

Inner Sakura snorted rudely.

'_Quit making excuses, Sakura. You are a medic-nin. You are trained to tend to the injured. Sitting in front of one dying person and doing nothing is making you twitchy. You are not used to this at all, so let's just skip the token resistance part and do your job already._'

It was a good thing that there was no one in the small cave safe for Sakura and the unconscious Akatsuki. The odd look on the kunoichi's face at the moment as she argued fiercely with her inner self would have given any spectator a wrong impression.

'Are you crazy?' Sakura rebutted her alter ego defensively. 'He's a wanted S-class criminal! I would be betraying Konoha if I helped him!'

It was almost as if she was trying to convince herself not to aid the seriously wounded male, and Inner Sakura knew it.

'_So you are disregarding the vow you took as a medic_?' Sakura's inner self asked archly. '_Would you be so quick to ignore him if he was Sasuke_?'

Sakura fumed inwardly at her alter ego for mentioning her ex-teammate. Uchiha Sasuke was a missing-nin reported to be still apprenticing under the Snake sannin Orochimaru. It had been seven years since she last saw him and heard his sincere 'Thank you', and the atrocious things that she had heard him do in the quest for power since then had saddened her greatly. Her childhood crush from so long ago had turned just as power-hungry as his ruthless brother, and it had clearly torn away his humanity.

But Inner Sakura was right, no matter how merciless and cruel Sasuke had become, the twenty-year old kunoichi would never forget the person that he had been when they were mere Genins, and would definitely do whatever it took to help him anyway she could. The bonds of Team Seven would always bind her tightly to her teammates no matter what happened, whether she wanted it or not.

Inner Sakura was right. She would be a hypocrite if she refused to lend her aid now. A life was a life, and that of the great Uchiha Itachi was no different. Besides, Sakura was pretty sure that it would definitely throw off Sasuke's groove if his brother just up and died like that.

"Kami, I'm going to betray my country just because the voice in my head is telling me to do it." Sakura muttered with soft disbelief, as her medic-trained eyes started to run over the Akatsuki's body with sharp concentration and keen observation. "I wonder if that could be used as an excuse if I ever get caught."

'_Don't be foolish, no one will know, and we will never get caught._' Inner Sakura snorted once more. Sakura rolled her eyes.

'_He_ will know, won't he?' Now certain that Itachi was in deep unconsciousness, Sakura finally lowered her guard completely to concentrate fully on the injured male before her. Briskly, she started to unbutton the Akatsuki cloak that blocked her view of the true extent of his wounds, grimacing slightly when she brushed against the wet and sticky substance that was the Uchiha's blood. The black and red color of the material hid the evidences of blood very well, but the abnormal heaviness of the cloth told Sakura without words that there were probably no less than three pints of blood on Itachi's very pretty cloak.

Sakura grimaced once more. The sheer amount of dark crimson warned her to be prepared for one grisly sight and what was going to be a lot of hard work when she peel open the cloak.

She was not disappointed at all, and hissed with shock when the full extent of injuries that the eldest Uchiha had sustained revealed themselves to her. Her eyes flew to the perfectly unmarred features of the male. She would have thought him to be in a state of uncaring repose had her observation skills not told her otherwise.

"What the hell did you do now, huh, Uchiha?" Sakura asked him softly. "Bit off more than you can chew this time?"

Predictably there was no reply and Sakura shook her head wryly. Then she refocused her attention back to the bloodied torso of the male and sighed. It was a good thing that she had seen a lot of blood and gore in her career as top medic in the Konoha hospital; if not surely she would have fainted at the raw sight of the gaping chest and hideously torn muscles.

Sakura had no idea what had happened to him, but the severity of the wounds certainly gave her the impression that Uchiha Itachi had fought single-handedly with a demon—and lost.

His chest was literally ripped to shreds, the skin and muscles that were supposed to protect his internal organs nearly nonexistent. Even without delving into his body with her chakra Sakura could see clearly from the large hole in his chest that he had at least three broken ribs, a clearly punctured lung and a badly damaged liver which was hemorrhaging extensively. She could see his heart pumping feverishly away to supply the pathetic remainder of blood in his body to his main organs, and his nearly non-existent breathing rapid and shallow.

He must have possessed the willpower of steel to have managed to drag his badly mauled self to shelter, and it made Sakura wonder vaguely if he had managed to annihilate the one who had done this to him while he was at it.

Sakura sighed loudly once more.

She had not expected his injuries to be this serious. If she had sustained a hit like his, Sakura knew that she would probably have collapsed on the spot, not stayed awake enough to find a shelter to die peacefully in. Granted that would have looked a lot more dignified than lying slumped in the mud with your intestines oozing out of you, but Sakura thought that she should consider herself lucky if she didn't wet herself with the pain. Looking down at the wound once more, the kunoichi knew that this was definitely going to take up all her chakra supply and more, and in a weather like this, she probably shouldn't even think of wasting her energy on a person whose chances of survival were less than twenty-five percent, but-

Sakura had always loved challenges.

She had once fallen in love with the most sought after, yet unattainable male in Konoha. She had to have one of the Densetsu no Sannin as her teacher. She couldn't resist throwing herself into her work, pitting her abilities against the best medics in Konoha. She had emerged from the very top of course, and just had to earn the position of head medic to prove it.

Sakura could never say no to challenges, and that was why her brilliant mind was already racing ahead of her to think and plan of everything that she was going to do to save Uchiha Itachi.

She was going to have to build a fire naturally, for the weather was turning from bad to worse and the temperature was definitely going to drop drastically. She was inwardly thankful that she had restocked her medic pack in Kirigakure; aiding the Uchiha was going to require everything in her humble bag—and more. There were the usual medication and first aid materials, bandages, antiseptic among other things, and there were also some food and dried sustenance that should last her for a couple more days. That was all the time that she could afford to stay here in; any more and shishou was going to wonder what else had been keeping her away from Konoha other than for the freak snow storm. Emerald eyes glinted with determination. Alright, she would make sure that the Uchiha would be sufficiently healed in two days' time.

Quickly slipping into a calm and professional mode, Sakura took out her kunai and easily tore apart Itachi's undershirt. Then she carefully peeled the sticky cloth off his body, taking extra care not to jostle the wound too much as she did so. Next, she picked up her kunai again and sliced his large cloak in two. Then she took the two pieces and cut them again into four even strips respectively, and quickly swabbed one of her newly fashioned cloth unsqueamishly against the raw wound on Itachi's chest.

The material was extremely absorbent, Sakura was pleased to note, and quickly soaked up the black blood that coated the surface of the injury. When Sakura had gotten as much of the tainted blood out of the way as she possibly could, she removed the cloth quickly and worked immediately on the ruptured liver. The pink-haired medic-nin gathered a wall of chakra and hovered her hands above the chest wound, then focused on surrounding her healing energy around the bleeding liver, and worked hard on maintaining her concentration as she started the painstakingly slow process of speeding up cell division that would help knit the liver together before Itachi bled out.

It took nearly two hours before the bleeding stopped completely, and by then Sakura was feeling slightly winded. However she maintained her chakra flow to his body determinedly, using them to raise his liver's temperature until it would allow the organ to resume its duty as his body's central heating system. Perspiration beaded on her brow from her efforts, but Sakura ignored them; so focused on her task was she that had anyone been present to witness her healing they would have understood immediately why she was hailed as one of the best and youngest medic-nin to grace the halls of the Konoha hospital.

Sakura breathed an inward sigh of relief when she had taken care of the ruptured liver. She had taken the liberty to raise his blood count to a healthier level too, so he probably wouldn't bleed to death now and with that his chances of survival leapt to an optimistic forty-seven percent.

"One down, three more to go." Sakura mumbled determinedly to herself as she moved her attention to the punctured lung. Concentrating her chakra with acute precision, she directed them into the jagged tears, forcing the unwanted blood and trapped air out of the lung cavity and slowly inflating the damaged organ before finally allowing oxygen to reach the oxygen-starved alveoli. The delicate process took an hour to complete as Sakura painstakingly repaired each and every alveolus that had been crushed by the collapsed lung. Then she worked her way out gradually, and once again pulled out a great amount of her energy as she hastened the cell division process that would close up the ripped portion of the lung.

Sakura estimated that she had less than a fifth of her chakra left when she was finally done with his lung, but she was inwardly pleased with herself when she could hear no more flopping sounds from his chest, and that Itachi certainly appeared like he was breathing a lot easier. He was up to sixty-six percent now. Feeling slightly nauseated, she lifted finely-trembling hands to his fractured ribs, and had to forcibly push the remaining of her energy out of her reluctant body to mend his bones. It was a good thing that bones form much faster than tissues; she had only had to multiply the calcium ions within his body and they quickly did the job, re-joining the ribs enough that they would heal completely by themselves in a week's time.

Sakura was exhausted beyond belief when she finally retrieved the pathetic remains of her energy from the Akatsuki's body. The nauseated feeling had increased to full-out vertigo, and had Sakura been able to see herself in a mirror she would have been shocked by how pale she looked at that moment. It was obvious that there was no way she could use her chakra for healing any longer. Anymore and she was going to collapse from sheer exhaustion, not that she wasn't very far away from it as it was now. Sakura shivered from the cold; she turned her head towards the entrance to see nothing but a howling white blur. As expected, the snow storm had taken a turn for the worse, and to make the day even lousier for Sakura, she suspected that she had roughly a couple hours or so before dusk descended upon them.

She had to finish up on Itachi before then, for instincts and years of training told the kunoichi that there was no way that he would survive in the blistering cold of the night with an open wound as long as her forearm. There were definitely going to be complications the next day, not to mention infection…

The thought of the deadly dangers of infection was enough to force Sakura out of her weariness. A shot of adrenaline borne from fueled determination invigorated her mind and body, and Sakura immediately thought of the next best way to close the gaping injury. The petite medic-nin reached for her pack and started to dig feverishly through it. Then she extracted a small packet, a spool of white thread as well as a bottle of alcohol-based antiseptic solution. She quickly poured the solution onto the cleanest piece of cloak/cloth that she could find and then swiped the cloth around the edges of Itachi's chest with practiced ease. Fumbling slightly, Sakura laid open the small packet next and extracted the tool that would help her close the wound; a long sterile needle that ended in a slight hook at one end. It took her multiple attempts before she could string the thread through the eye of the needle, and when she finally did so, shaking hands and all, Sakura moved towards the lower body of the Akatsuki and threw a leg across his reposed form, straddling his hips in an intimate manner that would have mortified the pink-haired female had her bare-chested 'patient' been awake.

The sudden movements made her head ache so fiercely that Sakura had to pause for a moment for it to subside, and when it faded away she leaned down very slowly and prepared to thread the first stitch. After all, it simply wouldn't do if she fainted on him halfway through.

The injury was obviously too wide for the thread to piece together straight away, so Sakura drew her knees to the sides of Itachi's chest and had to apply pressure to draw the edges of the wound together, and the toll that particular action took on her tiring body was simply unimaginable. Within fifteen minutes of maintaining that particular position, Sakura was paler than ever and perspiring from sheer fatigue. Her thigh muscles quivered and ached with the increasing buildup of lactic acid, her head felt thick and heavy, her fingers throbbed from pulling the needle through resisting flesh and muscles and she had to stop periodically because she kept seeing double. Only the encouragement from Inner Sakura and her own stubborn resolve kept the pink-haired kunoichi from giving up.

Sakura could not be anymore relieved when she finally pulled the needle out from Itachi's bloody chest for the last time and knotted the thread tightly so that the wound would not open so easily. She had honestly thought that she would have blacked out halfway through, but that wasn't the case.

'_As if I would let you disgrace us like that._'

Inner Sakura huffed haughtily, and for once Sakura did not say anything to rebuke her alter ego. The only thing that took priority in her fuzzy mind at the moment was the last thing that she had to do before she could allow herself to fall unconscious. Reaching for her medic pack once more, Sakura pulled out a few rolls of bandages, and as she unrolled the white pieces of sterile cloth quickly and efficiently, she quietly thanked her taskmistress of a sensei for volunteering her for all those extra nursing duties when she was a Chuunin. Her hard work during her youth had paid off extremely well now, when she could bandage a male almost a head taller than her with no trouble whatsoever even when her strength was failing her and she was as weak as hell and just as tired. The bandages would definitely lower the risk of infection, as well as act as secondary precaution to prevent the wound from opening up again. The pink-haired kunoichi worked quickly and almost sang with relief when she finally tied the last knot of the snowy bandage.

Sakura nodded once with pure satisfaction as she surveyed her work briefly. He was breathing properly; his heart rate had returned to normal and the bleeding was almost stopped. The storm still had not let up, and the light outside had dimmed significantly to a dark grey, indicating the onset of dusk. She had fulfilled all her priorities, and had healed the Akatsuki before the arrival of sunset. It was just a little pitiful that she did not have enough energy to stay awake to feel sufficiently proud of her newest accomplishment. Quickly seeing the ring of darkness that was rapidly expanding within her vision, Sakura did one more thing that she had to do.

Gathering the last vestiges of her chakra, the kunoichi shaped them with utmost precision and quickly executed a series of clumsily performed hand signs. Then she whispered a medical jutsu, an advanced technique that only the most skillful of medics could perform due to the delicate nature of the procedure, and temporarily blocked off all the optic nerves of the Uchiha with her chakra, inadvertently binding her patient to herself provisionally. Despite knowing that the Akatsuki would definitely not be pleased when he wakes up and finds himself temporarily blind, Sakura was nonetheless a little more reassured by the modicum sense of safety this jutsu gave her.

Forgetting the fact that she was still wrapped snugly around the male's loins, Sakura blinked sleepily as she slowly allowed exhaustion to take control of her body. Feeling drowsy almost right away, the petite female sank bonelessly against the only warm surface in the small and cold cave, her cheek resting lightly against a strong beating heart, the steady beats lulling her into a deep rest.

Sakura allowed a small satisfied smile to curl on her lips as sleep began to claim her. "One hundred percent rate of recovery." The pink-haired medic-nin whispered softly, contentedly, as her eyelids began to close.

"You owe me a life debt now, Uchiha Itachi."

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:tsuzuku:

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**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

Well, finally I decided to get off my lazy ass and to revise Hanami. You guys probably know what that means, I bet.

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The part about the lungs and the liver are all true, I assure you.

Brief biology lesson: The liver is our largest internal organ and in addition to being part of the digestive system, it also helps regulate our body temperature. A rupture in the liver can cause massive loss of blood, drastic loss of blood pressure and subsequently death. Also, the alveoli in our lungs are important as sites for gas exchange with blood. Without those the oxygen that we breathe in cannot reach our internal organs. Ergo, you can see that the normal functioning of both organs are very important to human survival, and that's why Sakura had to heal those first before attending to other injuries anywhere else.

Well, at least that's what I _think_ I remember from my own biology lessons. Hope that my explanation doesn't confuse anybody, though.

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And now that I read through this chapter, I realized that it's very unlikely for Sakura to heal Itachi had she come across his wounded form in canon-verse. My apologies in advance, ladies and gentlemen, for the OOC-ness of Sakura's character.

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As for the jutsu that Sakura had performed to seal off all usage of Itachi's Sharingan, well, you probably guessed already that I had pulled that out of my butt. You will be right, though in my defense the existence of such a jutsu does seem possible. It's a medical technique and could only be used when the patient is willing and/or unconscious. This means that if Itachi is in full health and under normal condition, there would be no way in hell for Sakura (or anyone else, for that matter) to hit him with that jutsu unless he's willing.

And well, as for Sakura…she may be OOC in that she had chosen to heal Itachi, but she's still lucid enough to do something to safeguard her own life. Itachi is an S-class missing-nin, after all.

…you may liken the situation to a vet darting a wild lion so as to be able to heal it with no threat to his/her safety.

Yes, too much Animal Planet, I know.

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Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

--paws


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Hanami

**Author: **paws-bells

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Word Count:** 5697

**Rating: **M (Contains content suitable for mature teens and older)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 22/04/08

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Chapter 2

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Itachi didn't wake up the next morning, but Sakura did.

The storm had not let up at all, and the cave was so cold that their breathing coalesced to mist every time they exhaled. Sakura had not managed to build a fire before she finally surrendered to exhaustion, so the small cave that they were in was not only freezing, but dark as well.

The pink-haired medic-nin had been slightly disorientated when she woke up curled against a very warm surface, and as the recollections of what had happened the day before ran through her mind it was all she could do not to sit up suddenly and back frantically away from the unmoving Akatsuki. It took a moment or two for her befuddled mind to realize that the Sharingan user was still unconscious, and for that Sakura was relieved. She had no doubt that she would have been killed already had it been otherwise, and the kunoichi was utterly mortified with herself for falling asleep _on_ the patient, and taking advantage of the male's vulnerability when he was clearly incapacitated. Sakura's face burned with embarrassment. What would shishou say if she knew?

'_Nobody would ever know of this, haven't we discussed that already?_' Inner Sakura butted in sassily.

Sakura snorted to herself. Famous last words.

Now that the most crucial part of saving the Uchiha's life was over, Sakura was starting to wonder if her earlier decision to heal the Akatsuki was going to end up in one big mistake. She glanced at the dangerous shinobi, stared at his unguarded face as he lay unconscious, stared at the blood-tainted bandages that swathed his lean, pale torso.

She shook her head inwardly. A life was a life, Sakura told herself fiercely, and after all, what had been the chances of her, a highly skilled medic-nin, running into him, a seriously injured Akatsuki, in the middle of a freak snowstorm in the middle of nowhere? Sakura's eyes widened slightly at the thought. The coincidence was just too uncanny, and maybe, _maybe it was just fate_.

Sakura really did shake her head this time, an odd look on her face. What was she thinking? She didn't usually waste her time pondering on abstract thoughts and the such, and definitely never in the mornings.

It must be the cold getting to her head.

Right. She was going to have to build that fire.

Sakura stood up slowly, and was pleasantly surprised to find all four limbs responding accordingly to her commands. Her chakra reserves had returned to normal though her stomach rumbled with hunger. The pink-haired female pressed a hand to her grumbling middle ruefully. There were still other things that she would have to do before she could take care of her own needs.

Right, Sakura thought to herself once more as she stretched and shook away the last vestiges of sleep. Get the fire started, heat up some water, do a follow-up on the chest injury, change the bandages, clean up the cave, and then eat. Maybe she might even be able clean up some too, if she could find some suitable substitute for a washcloth.

Inner Sakura whined about how Sakura would always put herself last every time someone else was concerned, and the kunoichi ignored her alter ego's complaints. She started to explore the small cave instead, and was pleasantly surprised to find that someone had placed a stack of fire wood in the deepest end of the cave. Sakura was relieved; with the huge snowstorm progressing outside she had no desire to venture out to look for fuel for the fire, and besides she was quite sure that whatever wood she might manage to salvage back would definitely be too wet to support a decent fire.

Without further ado, Sakura lugged an armful of wood and set them as near the Uchiha as possible, and within ten minutes a nice warm fire was roaring in its hearth. Using her inhuman strength, Sakura lifted two stool-sized boulders and set them on opposite sides of the fire, placing a long, thin slab of stone across the boulders after she did so. Then she dug out two metal cups from her medic pack, and ventured to the entrance of the cave where she proceeded to fill both cups with snow. That done, the sensible medic female ducked back quickly into the warmth of the cave and placed both cups on the flat stone surface, waiting patiently for the snow to melt and for the water to heat up.

Sakura eyed the still form of Itachi as she ran through the mental list of chores that she had planned for the morning. The man was obviously still very out of it, but still Sakura crept to the Uchiha's side cautiously, half expecting for him to open his eyes suddenly and rear up to attack her as if the major wound on his chest was hardly a consequential matter. The scenario that she had painted was probably as outrageous as one could possibly get, but Sakura would not put it past the Uchiha to achieve that feat. If there was anyone who could do it, she really believed that he could.

It was really poetic irony that she was actually quite afraid of this wild wolf that she was in the midst of saving, and just as equally in awe. She had seen patients with wounds less serious as his thrashing about wildly in their state of unconsciousness; if not from the sheer agony of the injury, then surely from the considerable psychological trauma that had been inflicted together with the wound. It was not the case for the Uchiha though. He emitted no sound that might revealed his discomfort, and had remained so very still throughout the night that it was slightly unnerving now that she thought of it. It was as if he wouldn't even allow himself to show an iota of weakness, and it was plain unnatural.

Sakura shivered slightly as she roved curious eyes over the strikingly aristocratic profile of Uchiha Itachi. Even in the depths of unconsciousness there was something about the Uchiha that radiated cold, hard power. Power molded by years of strict, unyielding discipline. Power forged from fierce, raw ambition. Power tainted by darkness.

Sakura wondered if Sasuke had achieved that same aura of deadly intent, and her heart ached so fiercely that she had to push the thought away to prevent herself from wallowing in disappointment.

What fools they all were. What goddamned, fucking fools.

Sakura took a deep breath to calm her angry thoughts. She settled herself carefully beside the Akatsuki. Itachi did not even stir at her proximity, and slowly, Sakura relaxed her guard. She let herself slip behind the familiarity of her medic duties, and started to focus on determining his current level of heath.

A swift slice of the kunai made short work of the bloodstained bandages, and as Sakura removed the tainted dressing she was somewhat pleased to see that her stitches had been perfect and closely knitted. Bleeding was kept to a bare minimum, and the raw flesh of the wound was slightly reddened but that could not be helped. It was a miracle that she had managed keep the infection down as it was; Itachi was just going to have to fight off the mild fever. Sakura was quite satisfied with her work, and a further probing into his system with a handful of her chakra told her that his healthy regenerative abilities were already working to seal the wound.

There really wasn't much left for her to do, and after swabbing his chest down with some more antiseptic solution, the pink-haired kunoichi got out a fresh roll of bandages to wrap around the wound once more. She completed the chore easily, and started to gather up the dirty bandages and as well as the other rubbish that she had neglected to clean up the night before. Sakura disposed of them appropriately, and by then the cups of snow were already melted and warmed. Sakura quickly swiped a cup from the make-shift 'heater' and brought it to Itachi's side.

As medic-nin she was no stranger to catering to the needs of the invalid, and there was no awkwardness behind her actions as she expertly tilted the head of the Akatsuki to receive a few drops of the lukewarm water that she had carefully poured into his mouth. She stroked his throat to induce the natural reflex of swallowing and when she felt his Adam's apple slide past her fingers Sakura patiently lifted the cup to drip more liquid into Itachi's mouth once more. The kunoichi repeated the procedure until the cup was empty and by the time she finally scooted away from Itachi to see to her own needs, Inner Sakura was actively grumbling about how _disgustingly_ nice Sakura was.

Sakura was too hungry to rebuke her alter ego. The kunoichi dug into her medic pack and withdrew an energy bar. She peeled off the wrapper and quickly took a blissful bite. Sakura made a face at the dry sustenance as it stuck to the roof of her throat and shook her head inwardly. She could be back in Konoha by now, enjoying a bowl of steaming hot ramen with Naruto and Hinata. Inner Sakura agreed, and told her that now wasn't still too late for her to head back to the Leaf Village. Sakura promptly ignored her inner self. She took her own sweet time chewing the god awful energy bar amidst Inner Sakura's complains about how embarrassingly softhearted she was being.

'You were the one who suggested for me to heal him first.' Sakura offered as she took a swig from her own cup of snow-melted water. The lump of organic grains and nuts slid down her throat easier, and Sakura took another reluctant bite of the bar.

Inner Sakura huffed. '_I didn't expect this to take so long_!'

Sakura shrugged. 'Now you know, so get used to it. This isn't the first time.'

Of course Inner Sakura knew_ that_. She had watched time and again as Sakura sacrificed her time and priorities for the patients under her care. Her work had been the reason why she was still single at the grand old age of twenty, why she was so often the first to reach the hospital and the last to leave, why she could barely scrap time to meet with her friends and family. Sometime it was just too much, the kunoichi's unerring dedication to her duties.

'_You don't have to do everything so perfectly. It's annoying_.'

Sakura rolled her eyes. Here she was again, arguing with the voice inside her head. 'I don't do things by halves, you know that.'

Inner Sakura gave up. She never won when it came to this particular topic. She didn't think that she ever would.

'_Fine. The Akatsuki had better be grateful for what you are doing for him_.'

Sakura swallowed the second mouthful of her meal and then set aside the rest of the energy bar. She drained the remaining water within the cup.

'Oh, but I really doubt that.'

* * *

As expected by Sakura, 'grateful' was the last thing on the mind of the lone Akatsuki when he woke up two days later.

The pink-haired kunoichi was immediately dismayed when the wounded male reared up violently from his previously reclining position, back quickly pressed against the rocky wall and body in full alert and defensive position. His eyes were fully opened but the irises vague and slightly glazed with illness. The crimson red of the Sharingan was no more, leaving only a deep, rich onyx that Sakura was sure only few had ever seen.

Despite his apparent blindness, despite that she had not made any noise at all, his eyes shot straight to her position across the fire that Sakura had managed to sustain, and had she not assured for herself earlier that her chakra had completely blocked off all his optic nerves she would have been tempted to believe that he could clearly see the apprehension as well as the slight tinge of fear that were in her wide emerald eyes at that very moment.

He probably scented that instinctual fear; his pupils sharpened drastically on hers, and Sakura realized belatedly that even without the usage of the powerful Sharingan his dark eyes held a magnetic quality that pulled her gaze in, and helpless, there was no way for her to divert her eyes away from his unseeing ones.

'_Don't be foolish, it's just your natural fear of him that's acting on your impulses_.' Inner Sakura chided softly, and once more Sakura was thankful for the presence of her alter ego, who had succeeded in snapping her out of the Uchiha's spell.

Sakura scolded herself as she quickly averted her eyes from Itachi's. How stupid could she get? Itachi couldn't hurt her. He was too weak to do anything.

"Get back down." The petite medic-nin spoke sharply, her voice slightly strained from the fear and self-directed disgust warring within her. "You are going to tear my stitches."

"What have you done to my eyes?"

Sakura was not surprised at the least when he did not heed her demand to relax. If anything his posture became even more guarded. What really surprised Sakura however, was how very cultured his tone was. Her brow furrowed slightly. It was completely incongruent with what she would have expected a psychotic mass-murderer to sound like, but then again, there was no mistaking the hint of dark violence behind that eerily quiet tone.

She shuddered inwardly, and then had to remind herself repeatedly that Uchiha Itachi was not in the position to harm her at the moment. Emerald eyes glinted with resolve. She had him chained to her like a puppy now, and she shouldn't have to cower before him like she had done something wrong. If anything, he should be the one kissing her feet for saving his sorry life, though she highly doubted that would ever happen. The mental image of it however, lightened her grim situation in a way she was sure he would not appreciate had he been aware of what was running through her mind at the moment. Sakura felt slightly better at the thought.

She looked at the Akatsuki once more; vivid verdant eyes running over his now perspiration and blood encrusted ebony hair, then to the Konoha hitai-ite with the ugly scratch over the beloved leaf symbol that covered his forehead, and lastly to his deathly pale face and feverish onyx eyes, taking particular note of the twin marks of stress that were etched in perfect symmetry and the high cheekbones and aristocratic profile, the cruel lips, and the proud facial structure. It was the classic Uchiha features, and with the Sharingan temporarily deactivated, Uchiha Itachi looked so much like his younger brother that it caused a bittersweet ache to reside within Sakura's chest.

Sakura wasn't stupid however; only a fool would dare mistake the deadly Uchiha heir for his avenging brother, and Sakura was anything but foolish.

She had been foolish in her youth, but not anymore.

The pink-haired kunoichi fixed her stare on Itachi once more, her eyes now steady and fearless. She had, after all, managed to level the playing field, and she knew that she was definitely strong enough to hold her own against this particular Akatsuki.

"Can you not feel my chakra, Uchiha?" She asked quietly at last, and watched as he focused within himself to detect the minute traces of her energy that she knew he would find. The provisional blinding of a person with one's own chakra was a highly complicated process not because large amounts of chakra were required, but because chakra control must be absolutely precise in order to guide the most minuscule quantity of energy through the many delicate optic nerves without damaging them, and when Itachi eventually opened his unseeing eyes once more, Sakura knew that he was already aware of the implications of what she had done.

"I have blinded you, and in doing so sealed the Sharingan."

* * *

Things happened at nearly the speed of light right after Sakura's bluntly delivered statement.

The pink-haired kunoichi would never have believed it, but one moment Itachi was at least ten feet away from her, and the next, before Sakura could even react that is, he was right before her, hand wrapped around her neck and mercilessly squeezing her against the wall. Sakura would have taken the time to admire his amazing chakra detection skills had she not had to worry about the problem of not being able to breathe.

"Reverse the process. _Now_."

His glazed eyes burned with rage, and even though the dark pupils were cloudy and unseeing, Sakura could feel the intensity of his wrath through those sightless orbs as he unleashed them upon her head.

But as much as it scared her to be in this position, Sakura knew that she possessed the ultimate trump card that even he, the great Uchiha Itachi, had to concede to.

"No."

Her eyes watered as his steely fingers bruised her windpipe but she did not struggle, merely forced her muscles to relax as she remained in her seated position, staring up into the turbulent eyes of the Akatsuki kneeling before her as nonchalantly as she possibly could.

"Do it now, or I _will _kill you."

He brought his face so close to hers that their breaths mingled and no doubt to intimidate her into submission, but had Itachi been able to see, he would have been astonished by the look of amusement on the kunoichi's face at the moment.

"Kill me," Sakura whispered hoarsely, her voice severely hampered by the unyielding hand wrapped around her neck. "And you will never see again."

A cruel sneer.

"You are not the only medic out there."

Sakura agreed.

"True. But only I and I alone can remove my chakra signature from your body, Uchiha. _You are bound to me now, and you had best remember that._"

With her stunning declaration, Sakura lifted her own hands towards his and easily _pried_ open his deadly hold on her neck, and before he could react to her amazing strength she shoved him away forcefully with her hands against his shoulders, and the inhuman might ensured that he flew backwards to slam against the opposite wall with a painful thud. The impact jarred his injury but did not open it, and he got to his feet almost immediately, his face deathly white and perspiration dotting his temple, his tall form trembling finely with exertion and his eyes glazed and wild.

He was not fast enough in his recovery though, for no sooner had he stood up she was right before him, her hands moving as quick as lightning as she hit all the correct chakra points on his body, effectively freezing all his movements but not sending him into unconsciousness. Then she shoved him down roughly to a reclining position, not caring that he fell hard on his back and glared down at him furiously as she did so.

"Bastard." Sakura wheezed as she fought not to wince as she sucked air down her battered windpipe. "Bastard! Do that again and I will fucking kill you myself, never mind the fact that I had used all my chakra to save your pitiful life!" She was very tempted to kick his still, but very conscious form as a childish form of revenge, but the increasing amount of crimson that streaked the white bandages across his chest had her kneeling by his side immediately, her own discomfort forgotten as she quickly slit open the sterile cloth to assess his injuries.

The most unladylike profanities spilled from the lips of the bad-tempered female as she surveyed the damage that their 'little tussle' had caused. The stitches had held, miraculously, but the flesh was slightly torn and raw from all the movements the Uchiha had made.

"You nearly tore open my stitches!" Sakura grumbled more to herself than to the male whom she was tending to as she quickly focused her chakra into stopping the bleeding as well as to mend the worst of the tears on the wounds, mumbling some unintelligible words of complain and irritation as she pushed her energy into his body.

It was a good thing that she had woken up a couple days earlier before him; her chakra levels were back to normal and ready to heal again, and as she pushed the flesh to knit together, Sakura was pleased to note that his chakra levels were slowly increasing to a healthier level too, although they were still chaotic and all over the place thanks to the mild infection and the fever that he was currently fighting against. Sakura withdrew her energy when the bleeding stopped and after cleaning all the dried blood from his chest with the old bandage, she quickly and efficiently wrapped the healing injury in a swathe of new bandages retrieved from her medic pack.

"Quit making any unnecessary movements so that your chest wound can heal faster. I am not going to stuff your innards back into your body if your wound opens up again." Sakura muttered cantankerously to her stiff patient as she finally tied the bandage firmly together. Still under the chakra control, Itachi could not reply of course, and Sakura sighed loudly. She couldn't leave him like that forever; he won't heal to the best of his capacity if she did so.

Sakura sighed again. Why hadn't she anticipated something like this when she had decided to heal the Akatsuki? Not that she had expected for the male to fall onto his knees and thank her for saving his life, but this was giving her more headache than she thought was due to her.

"Listen up, Uchiha." The pink-haired kunoichi started to speak once more as she stared at the unresponsive male. "Believe it or not, I mean you no harm. I am just a medic who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I couldn't watch you bleed to death, but I have to admit that your Sharingan had made me a little apprehensive, thus the sealing jutsu to blind you temporarily. I will remove it when you are well enough, and I have no motives whatsoever behind my actions at all. I want to release you from this full-body bind, but I need you to swear not to harm me."

With that Sakura cautiously unblocked the chakra point that would allow him to speak. She waited patiently for all of two minutes before she realized that he was not in favor at all of her little peacemaking effort. Sakura found that she could not blame him actually; his pride probably smarted that he had lost to a weak little female medic who had succeeded in immobilizing him in less than a minute, and if she had been in his shoes she too would have been outraged if she had found out that her most primary source of defense had been stripped away from her at her weakest moment.

Emerald eyes glinted. She was determined to wrangle a truce of sorts from the Uchiha no matter what. It was time to play hardball.

"You owe me your life, Uchiha." Sakura spoke almost pleasantly. Almost. "You owe me this much at the very least."

Still he kept silent.

Sakura lost her patience. Here she was trying to be nice but it was like he was totally immune to it.

"Fine!" The kunoichi snapped with feminine annoyance. "Be that way! You are probably as emotionally rich as an ice cube so you might as well look it rig-"

"Release me first."

Sakura paused in the middle of her tirade to stare at him with disbelief, her mood rapidly turning from bad to worse. Sakura knew that she probably wouldn't even dared to speak to him had they met on more normal circumstances, but hello?! She had been living in a cave in the dead of winter for the past few days, she hadn't had a nice hot bath in what seemed like a week, she was utterly grumpy, her temper was on a very short leash, and Sakura figured that she deserved a temper tantrum at the very least.

Yes, normal people go hysterical when overly stressed, but Sakura?

She merely took on the characteristics of her inner self.

"Do I look suicidal to you?" She asked him caustically. "Oh wait, I forgot. You can't see at all! Sorry about that!"

He appeared oblivious to her sarcasm, but then it might just be because he was still in the full-body bind.

"Release me first." He stated once more, his voice utterly calm and devoid of emotions.

It was obvious that this was one thing that he would not back down from, and Sakura glared at him for a long time.

Then she deflated.

"Oh hell, I am suicidal after all." She whispered incredulously to herself before she started to unblock all the chakra points on Itachi's body. "You had better not make me regret this, Uchiha, or I swear I will haunt you for life if you kill me right after this."

Glumly, Sakura decided that she wasn't surprised at the least when the powerful Akatsuki grabbed both her hands and dragged her to him the moment he could move. Sakura was mentally exhausted from thinking again and again of the ramifications of what she had done when she had decided to save the life of Uchiha Itachi, S-class mssing-nin, traitor of Konoha and the hated brother of Sasuke. All she wanted to do at the moment was just heal the damn man already and return to the safety of Konoha and pray hard that everything that she had done these past few days would not return to bite her in the backside in the future.

She squealed when he easily rolled her under him, effectively pinning down all her limbs with his body. "What are you doing, Uchiha?" Sakura demanded. "Do you suffer from selective hearing or something? Can't you just listen to me for once? You are going to open your wound!"

"Be silent." He commanded her arrogantly, and Sakura's jaw dropped.

Inner Sakura screeched with the injustice of it all. Dangerous S-class criminal or not, this was too much!

"You-"

"You will not do that again." Dark onyx stared straight into her wide emerald eyes, and Sakura did not have to be genius to know exactly what 'that' meant.

"I won't have to do it if you didn't get violent." She retorted bravely. "And get off me!" The petite kunoichi fumed at having been restrained so completely and cursed Itachi for being such a quick learner; she couldn't use her superhuman strength or any jutsu if he kept all her four limbs separated and firmly under him.

Her last sentence was predictably ignored.

"Nevertheless, you will not do it again." It wasn't even a question, and Sakura frowned. Then she noticed the way he was trembling finely from exertion as well as the feel of his hot feverish skin against hers and knew without doubt that he was hanging onto consciousness by a mere thread. Her frown deepened.

"Uchiha Itachi," Sakura started, addressing the Akatsuki by his full name for the first time, and wanting to end this discussion as quickly as possible so that he could finally let himself rest. Resorting to brute force as she had done earlier had done nothing but to rile him even further, and she hoped that maybe he would listen if she talked things out nicely with him.

How wrong she would be to think thusly.

"You have no right to demand any requests from me. You do not own me."

His eyes burned fiercely into hers at her words, and Sakura did not know whether if it was his fever or the fact that he was naturally intense that way, but there and then his onyx orbs glowed in a way that trapped her gaze within his, forcing her to stare at him with awe.

"Is that what you think?"

Before Sakura could even try to comprehend the obscure meaning behind his words, he released one of her hands to tug forcefully on the right sleeve of her shirt, instantly revealing the smooth expense of her creamy shoulder. Sakura froze, but before she could push him away he reclaimed his hold on her hand and ducked his head down to touch his lips against her shoulder blade. At this proximity, there was no way she could miss his heady masculine scent mixed with traces of blood and sweat.

"What are you trying to-" Sakura made a soft sound of surprise when she felt his raspy tongue run a line along the length of her right shoulder.

"Mangoes." She heard him breathe softly to himself when he scented the fruit-flavored lotion she used on her body, and Sakura's breath hitched again when he laved once more at the fleshy part of her shoulder. Her heart started to pound.

This was very bad; she was starting to feel things that she wasn't supposed to feel!

"Uchiha!" Sakura focused on trying to get the larger male off her and less on how sensual his tongue felt against her skin. "What are you doin-"

Sakura let out a soft scream when he bit down viciously on her tender flesh with no warning whatsoever. Tears of pain flooded her emerald eyes immediately, and Sakura started to thrash violently against the hold of the unrelenting male on top of her. The raw pain on her skin felt no different from the burn of a branding; it hurt like hell and just when Sakura thought that she was going to pass out from the agony it subsided drastically. Belatedly she realized that she had stopped struggling and that Itachi was actually pumping large amounts of his own chakra into her wound but he wasn't using them to heal her-

Realization hit Sakura.

"No…"

She tried to pull away from his grasp and struggled desperately against the larger male but he merely held her down firmly and tightened his hold on her wrists warningly. Sakura did not heed it though, and tried to kick at him but a low growl and a punishing nip on her shoulder cooled her fury immediately.

It was already too late to resist anyway, for he had already implanted his chakra firmly into her bloodstream and was already working to close the wound that he had created on her neck. Sakura fell limp in his possessive embrace and turned her head away from the Uchiha currently dedicating his attention on sealing her wound, her spirited eyes glowing with delayed shock and helpless rage as she forced herself not to react to his close proximity as well as the almost possessive way he was licking her shoulder mark.

He had turned on her damn it, after all she had done to preserve his life he had turned on her. A part of her should have predicted that he would have done something like this. He was Uchiha Itachi, for god's sake. He was not some puppy that she had rescued from the roadside that would show her endless loyalty and gratitude just because she had been softhearted and had aided him.

She should have known that, and worst of all she shouldn't be getting aroused by his actions!

She needed to get away from him, and quickly pushing away the severe ramifications of what had just happened, Sakura focused on that particular task immediately. She focused her chakra on her injury to heal it quickly, ignoring the growl of annoyance from the Akatsuki at her interference. Sakura was hardly intimidated; she growled back angrily at him.

"Stop it." She hissed. "Let me go."

"No." Despite depositing a sizeable chunk of his chakra within her body he was still determined to stay awake, his blinded eyes bearing fiercely into hers as he fought unconsciousness. "You know what this means. Why are you so determined to resist me?"

She would have slapped him had her hands been free, but as it was he hadn't even been gentleman enough to allow her the liberty to do so.

"Simple. I do not belong to _you_." She spat furiously at him.

He begged to differ.

"The mark on your shoulder says differently, little girl." Sakura did not know how he had done it, but he had managed to keep his voice level despite his illness, and at the moment they were low and almost indulgent as he addressed her by her new albeit unwanted nickname. She fumed inwardly and refused to speak another word to him.

Then his tone sharpened, turned cold and angry, and Sakura realized that he was furious.

"Now you are tied to me just like you have bound me to you. I would say that we are about even now, don't you think?"

He lowered his head to her shoulder once more, and ran his tongue across the little scar that had replace the bloody wound on her shoulder, traced the Uchiha insignia that now marked her delicate skin. She shuddered, and had to bite her lip in order not to emit the little moan of pleasure his touch caused her. Emerald eyes filled with angry tears as she glared at him. He could not see her furious stare, but he could feel the intensity of her displeasure and it amused him greatly. Sakura's fury increased as he released a low, hoarse chuckle.

"Why so angry, little girl? You got my avowal, didn't you? You are mine; I would never hurt you now."

With that promise, he rolled off her at last, closed his eyes and surrendered to the comforting darkness of rest.

For a long moment, Sakura could not do anything, just laid by his side as the impact of what had happened earlier hit her hard.

"Bastard." Sakura whispered furiously.

"That bloody bastard."

He had marked her as his own.

_

* * *

_

:tsuzuku:

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

I'm aware that my portrayal of Sakura's relationship with Inner Sakura makes it seem like she suffers from multiple personality disorder or something. That's certainly not true in canon-verse, but I find myself liking Inner Sakura like this, so she will stay, at least in the Hanami version of Sakura.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

The fight scene was somewhat unrealistic, I feel, and once again Sakura's ability to immobilize Itachi by hitting his chakra points was something that I had cooked up. Well, you will understand if you watched enough Chinese kung fu movies. My apologies if it seems suspiciously like the Hyuuga's Jyuuken technique.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Itachi's reaction was somewhat expected. I'd imagine that he would not take kindly to being tied down to anyone, and would retaliate to return the favor in an effort to get back on more even ground. The concept of the seal was something that's rather possible as well, canon-ically speaking. Not that I want to compare Orochimaru to Itachi, but if the Snake Sannin could do it I have no doubt that Itachi too has the ability to use the seal as well, seeing that he had fought Orochimaru before and won—repeatedly.

Oh, and if Itachi seems OOC, well, do keep in mind that he's actually feverish, dazed and fighting an infection during his confrontation with Sakura, no matter how unaffected he appears to be.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

--paws


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Hanami

**Author: **paws-bells

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Word Count:** 7472

**Rating: **M (Contains content suitable for mature teens and older)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 22/04/08

**

* * *

**

Chapter 3

* * *

She had to leave immediately.

His fever was breaking, he was gaining strength in leaps and bounds and she knew that if she did not leave now it was going to be very hard to escape him when he was back to full strength.

She could only pray hard that he wasn't the possessive type, for the seal that he had performed on her had all but acted as a brand that screamed to the world that she belonged to him, and she didn't think that she would like to find out the hard way what he would do if he really managed to track her down after she left.

It was that thought that made her so thankful that she had remembered enough to blind him so as to preserve her true identity.

It took her half an hour to clean up the cave, packing up all traces that might lead back to her and her country back into her medic pack, and another half an hour to do a brief checkup on his injuries.

She knew that she had got to be the biggest idiot this side of the country, but she could not help but to leave a few rolls of bandages and painkillers behind, as well as a bottle of water and some form of sustenance that he would need. At the same time, she also made sure that there were enough wood for the fire and that she had done all she could to aid him on the road to recovery. She told herself defensively that since she had already spent so much effort saving him there was no way she was going to allow her newest accomplishment to perish of hypothermia and infection.

Inner Sakura promptly informed her that her excuses weren't working since they inhabit the same body.

She knelt by his resting form one last time, and quickly performed a series of hand signals that immediately coaxed out the small amounts of chakra that had blocked his eyesight for the past three days. Then she stared down at him, all the while thinking that this was probably the one and only time she would get to see the unguarded face of one of the deadliest shinobi in the world, and that it was pretty ironic that she couldn't even tell anybody about it.

"I hope we never meet again, Uchiha Itachi."

Then she got up soundlessly, moved towards the entrance of the cave, and was gone before the blink of an eye.

* * *

He knew even before he opened his eyes that she was gone.

Her chakra signature had disappeared and the faint scent of mangoes and cream that he now associated with her all but a distant dream.

He was not alone, however.

In place of her absence were three others, all relaxing around the small fire that bathed the cave in a warm glow.

"You are awake." Kisame stated calmly, the sensitivity of the Samehada alerting him to his partner's subtle shift in chakra.

The shark man had been separated from his partner during the surprise attack from a group of hunter-nins three days ago and although he had managed to get rid of his portion of those pesky mercenaries he had been worried that Itachi's temporary visual incapacity would have made it harder for the Sharingan user to shake off the high level oinin. Then the huge storm had hit the area and it became down to impossible to track down and rejoin his now weaker partner.

Until today morning that is, when the storm had finally subsided.

"Hn."

Itachi did not open his eyes.

"Itachi-sempai, I'm glad that you are alive." The youngest of the Akatsuki, Tobi, expressed sincerely. Itachi promptly ignored the pup.

A soft snort from the last occupant in the cave.

Deidara.

"Like Uchiha would die so conveniently on us…un." He felt the blonde's eyes on him. "In case you are wondering why the brat and I are around the area, we are here to play messenger...un. Boss's orders."

Onyx eyes opened at the last sentence, and Itachi stiffened imperceptibly when he glimpsed clearly the rocky roof of the cave above him. He closed his eyes once more, and then opened them again. It was still there, and he could see every rocky crevice and jut. He paused for a long moment, carefully considering the sheer significance behind his regained sight.

Not wanting to let his partner deliver all the good news, Tobi quickly cut in, much to the annoyance of Deidara.

"Itachi-sempai, you don't have to worry about being blind for long anymore." The excited youngster chirped good-naturedly. "Leader-sama has found the best medic-nin to heal you. We have to go retrieve her though, she is-"

"-from Konoha." Deidara interrupted rudely, glaring at the impudent teenager as he did so. "She is the famous disciple of the Godaime Hokage, and we are taking her because she would be less heavily guarded than her sensei…un. We are not to lower our guard though, for she has-"

"-inherited the trademark inhuman strength from the Hokage-" Tobi butted in cheekily, only to be shoved aside by his irritated partner.

_Check. _

"-yeah, exactly what the gaki said, as well as the precise chakra control that is supposed to be able to heal your eyes."

_Check. _

"-I have read her file already-" Tobi tried again, only to be stuffed with a mouthful of clay for all his efforts. Sitting across the duo, Kisame had to fight not to roll his eyes at the childish pair. How they managed to seal the three-tailed beast between their immature antics he would never know.

"-she is twenty-years old, Jounin-level kunoichi, head medic in the Konohagakure hospital, consultant medic to the Konoha ANBU, close friend to the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, is 5 feet 3 inches in height, 42 kg in weight, likes to eat-"

"Her hair is pink."

This time, it wasn't Tobi who had interrupted Deidara's hasty recital. The young male was still too busy trying to spit out all the clay that his partner had force fed him.

All three Akatsuki turned their attention toward their injured comrade.

The Uchiha was still lying prone on the ground, staring blankly at the long strand of hair that he was now holding in between his fingers. In the darkened glow of the firelight, the single piece of feminine hair glinted a silky pink that all the occupants within the cave could see clearly.

Kisame started at the implication.

"Itachi…" The tall shark man whispered with muted astonishment. "You can see?"

It was a closely guarded secret within the Akatsuki, but all within the organization knew that the powerful clan murderer Uchiha Itachi had finally lost his sight almost four months ago, due to his frequent usage of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

In reply, Itachi twirled that one strand of pink hand around his index finger before sitting up slowly, putting his back against the wall in one fluid move that completely belied the fact that he had been almost fatally injured three days ago. His pale chest gleamed in the firelight and the snowy white bandages that covered half his torso were only slightly spotted with blood, clearly indicating that the medic who had saved him had done an exemplary job. Itachi was almost fully healed, and in more ways than one.

"No." The ebony-haired male answered succinctly, his onyx eyes clear and sharp. "I can do more."

He activated his Bloodline Limit for the first time in months, and the rest of the Akatsuki watched as his dark orbs bled to red, and the three tomoe appeared consecutively to surround the edges of his pupils, indicating the fully evolved stage of the powerful kekkei genkai.

Then they easily turned bladed.

The Mangekyo.

Kisame drew a sharp intake of breath.

"You are fully healed?"

A curt nod.

Deidara was more curious about how the Uchiha was healed from his blindness, or rather, the who and the why.

The group of three had already assumed as much that someone had healed their injured compatriot when they had found him alone within the cave, much to their surprise. After all, there weren't many medics out there who would find it within their hearts to heal someone wearing the Akatsuki cloak. They hadn't got the chance to ask the mysterious medic though, for he or she had long since vacated the premises, but still had cared enough to leave behind some food and water, not to mention a warm fire for Uchiha Itachi.

And now that the identity of the medic was almost confirmed to be the extremely competent Haruno Sakura from Konohagakure (after all there is only _one_ woman in the world who had the ability to heal Itachi's eyes and also possess _pink_ hair), the blond Akatsuki could not help but wonder why.

"Hey Itachi," Deidara mused. "If someone from Konoha helps you, isn't that considered an act of betrayal to her country?"

Itachi started to stand, revealing no indication whatsoever whether if his rapidly healing injury still hurt him or not. Kisame mimicked his actions. The tall Samehada wielder tossed a spare cloak to his partner who caught it effortlessly and threw it over his shoulders with careless grace, not bothering to keep it buttoned up for once.

"Not for her." Itachi answered at last as he took in the interior of the small cave, the way a small stack of firewood was laid neatly by the edge of the entrance, as well as the small flask of water and the dried sustenance placed carefully against the wall where he had been nearest to earlier. Itachi lifted his crimson gaze to the turquoise eyes of the clay-master.

"Her loyalty lies with me now."

The oddly possessive statement had the three Akatsuki staring at each other with muted confusion. What the hell had happened during the past three days?

Tobi was the first one to shake off his uncertainty.

"Itachi-sempai, now that you are healed does that mean we don't have to retrieve Haruno Sakura anymore?"

So her name was Sakura.

It was a demure name for a spitfire like her, but as the syllables rolled off his mind nicely Itachi decided that it fit her, in a way. He knew now that she had pink hair that easily matched her namesake, and quickly recalling the way she had fit under him, he knew that she was very petite for a kunoichi but despite that she was all inhuman strength and soft feminine curves wrapped in one enticing package.

The contrasts within her intrigued him.

He wondered what her reaction would be when he found her again. Would she dare yell at him like she had done so unabashedly when she was tending to him? Or would she take one look at him and run the opposite direction?

Something told him that she would react in a way more akin to the former than the latter, and that amused him. He was suddenly anxious to see her again, to taste that intoxicating scent of mangoes and cream once more, and he would. Soon.

Itachi refocused his attention to the group of Akatsuki clearly awaiting his instructions.

"Deidara." He spoke at last, his voice calm and even. "Take Tobi and return to the headquarters. Report back to our leader and inform him of everything you know."

Deidara raised a blond brow. "Everything…un?"

Itachi's silence was an answer in itself and Deidara shrugged.

"Fine, and I tell the Boss that you and Kisame are going to resume your previous mission?"

Itachi's crimson eyes froze, turned cold.

"No." His level voice had gone even quieter than usual, and that made the sadistic cruelty behind his tone even more obvious. Tobi appeared disconcerted by the sudden change, whereas Deidara shot the Uchiha a wary look. Kisame was the only one seemingly unaffected by his partner's deadly tone, so used to Itachi's sporadic moods was he.

"I have a score to settle with some hunter-nins." Crimson eyes flashed eerily and Deidara started to smirk slightly. He pitied those mercenaries who had decided to pit their luck against Itachi. Judging by the volatile mood the now-recovered Sharingan user was in, there probably won't be anything left behind when he was done with those oinin.

"Huh. And the both of you are returning to the headquarters after this…un?"

"No." Once again Itachi gave a negative reply, and this time his Sharingan gaze glimmered in a totally different manner from the earlier look of bloodlust.

Possession

"I'm going to recover something of mine."

* * *

"_Did you miss me, little girl?"_

_The darkened red eyes devoured her feminine form, and she shuddered at his delicious purr. _

"_Itachi…" She whispered warily. "What do you want?"  
_

"_What do you want?" He shot her question back at her, and she trembled slightly as he neared her, his powerful shoulders moving subtly under his shirt as he stalked lazily towards her. She closed her eyes as his masculine musk enveloped her, trapped her within his addictive scent. It made her knees go weak, and she made a soft noise in the back of her throat, almost pleading. _

_A whimper broke out from her when she felt cool lips pressing gently against her nape, and unconsciously she arched backwards at the electrifying touch and tilted her head for him. He chuckled softly, and trailed his lips to the side of her slender neck and then to the sensitive skin behind her ear. She mewed helplessly. _

"_What do you want?" He asked lowly once more, easily evading her attempts when she tried to clutch hold of him. _

_Her eyes fluttered open, the brilliant emerald orbs unseeing, glazed with lust. _

"_Itachi…!!" She cried out immediately when he nibbled her earlobe from behind, teasing the delicate flesh with his teeth and tongue. Her chest ached in a way she did not understand at all and she had to squeeze her thighs to ease some of the sinful pressure that had built up between them. _

"_Hmm…?" He was trailing light kisses down her collarbone now, his arms wrapped intimately around her waist, and his dark head tilted down as he nipped and sucked on her creamy skin. She had to clench her fists to keep from begging him to stop this sweet torture. _

"_You are mine now, you know that right?" _

_His voice was confident, and so very husky. Sakura could only nod helplessly in reply. _

"_So tell me what you want, little girl." _

_It took all her willpower to leave his warmth and get away from his affections, but she managed to rip herself from his hold. Then she quickly turned towards him, and before he could elude her again she wrapped her arms around his neck, uncaring that no one had probably dared to do something so personal to him. _

_He watched her, dark crimson eyes filled with masculine amusement and lazy indulgence. _

_She looked at him for a long time, as if etching this almost relaxed aspect of him deeply into her memory. _

_Then she answered his question, her respond firm and true. _

"_I want you." _

_He smirked. _

"_And you have me…" _

* * *

Sakura's eyes snapped open.

Her wild emerald eyes took in her surroundings frantically, her heart racing a mile a minute as she did so. She calmed down slightly when she recognized the familiar interior of her bedroom.

It was only a dream.

Sakura hissed softly with annoyance.

It was a goddamned nightmare.

Sakura could not believe that even after she had gotten herself rid of the Akatsuki almost three days ago he was still troubling her. She hadn't had a decent sleep since she had returned from her mission!! This was not what she had in mind at all, and Sakura sat up from her prone position in bed sourly. The dreams were getting worse and worse, and Sakura wanted out, pronto. Not that she wasn't also embarrassed of her own vivid dreams; she had turned as red as a tomato the first time it happened, but now she was almost used to it and just felt pissed off as hell and equally as cranky. She wanted her sleep back, damn it, and she wanted them Itachi-free.

And worst of all, what's up with her dream self anyway? That was so obviously not her! As if she would ever act like some feline in heat around Uchiha Itachi! That would _never_ happen!

'_Is that so?_' Inner Sakura asked archly. '_You mean you don't get turned on by those dreams? He is so very…intense…and his voice…You want to tell me that you don't feel anything at all? No shivery sensations running down your spine, no increased heart rate…no anything?_'

Of course, her alter ego just had to ruin a perfect ranting session. Sakura huffed with resignation and dropped her head on her drawn up knees; her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to think of what to do. Absentmindedly, she reached up a hand to sooth the aching Uchiha crest on her shoulder, rubbing it ruefully through the fabric of her sleeping shirt. She had healed the wound in the cave the very day he had marked her so she didn't understand why it was still throbbing.

Sakura supposed she should be relieved that it didn't really hurt in the physical sense, but rather gave her a feeling of melancholic emptiness. The worst thing was Sakura did not even know what the seal was aching for; all she knew was that it had been constantly pulsating mildly and that she had been forcing herself to ignore its call…to do something. She just didn't know what.

She had done some serious research right after she had reported in from Kirigakure but all she found in the Konoha archives was that the ancient jutsu that Itachi had used on her was employed only by the old clans and only by the ruling head of clan to bind their new brides and concubines to them. Sakura had pitched a big fit in the Konoha Library when she had learnt of that, and there wasn't anything else in the great library that had explained the reason behind the aching seal, or worse, that Itachi might be channeling perverted dreams to her. The other alternative would be to show the mark to shishou, and that obviously _would not do_, unless she would care to explain how she had come to possess said mark in the first place.

Sakura growled angrily.

Oh just he wait, that bloody Uchiha. She swore on her life that the next time she ever saw his sorry face again she would slap him so hard that even Sasuke could feel it. How dare he haunt her thoughts like this?

Sakura quickly forced herself to calm down. Today was her day off after all; she had no intention whatsoever of spending it worrying about Uchiha Itachi and how he could turn her on even when he's physically not here.

Sakura promptly pinkened at her own thoughts. She slapped her palm against her forehead in chagrin.

Good lord, she was twenty, she was a full grown woman! Due to her medic-nin occupation she had probably seen more naked men then any women her age would ever have the chance to see and yet here she was blushing like some love struck teenager!

It was downright embarrassing, and the tall Akatsuki wasn't supposed to affect her this way. Sakura was really disconcerted by it all. The kunoichi shook her head.

"It must be the post traumatic shock that I had actually saved the life of an Akatsuki that I am lusting after him now. Sort of." Sakura mumbled to herself. "Don't think of it anymore. Just don't."

Determinedly, Sakura got off her bed. Today was her long anticipated break, and she was going to enjoy herself even if she had to force herself to do so, and that meant keeping all thoughts of Itachi firmly out of her head.

Sakura slowly made her way out of her bedroom and into the adjoining bathroom, her mind churning with outing plans for the day that she had promised with her girlfriends. It was rare that they were all free on the same day, and Sakura fully intended to enjoy her day out.

'Think on the bright side." Sakura told herself as optimistically as she possibly could. 'At least he won't ever be physically here to cause you even more headaches.'

How wrong she would be.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino, Hyuuga Hinata and Tenten were already seated in a cozy corner in the café when Sakura arrived. The girls waved her over cheerfully and the pink-haired kunoichi quickly made her way over to her friends, slightly relieved that they were too pleased to see her to feel annoyed by her slight tardiness.

"Sorry girls, I was tidying up the apartment a little and time got away from me."

Ino rolled her eyes.

"Yare yare, you are always late, forehead girl. We are all used to it by now."

Sakura smiled sheepishly at the trio.

"Don't be mad. Drinks on me tonight?"

It had always been their tradition to set a day each month to go on an all day pampering/shopping spree indulgence followed by a girls' night out, whereby they would kick off their heels, sit back and relax in their favorite pub where they would talk about everything and anything under the sun. Their innocent little get together had started between Ino and herself two years ago, but had gradually grew to include a now not-so-shy Hinata (it was hard to be bashful all the time if you had as loud and boisterous a boyfriend as Naruto) and lastly Tenten, the weapons specialist, when they had overheard her complaining about how dull the men in her team were.

Tenten smirked.

"You do know that you have just left yourself wide open to an empty purse tonight right?"

Sakura shrugged cheerfully.

"I think that I can afford to treat my best girlfriends once in awhile."

Ino snorted softly with amusement.

"Nice try, forehead. That almost softened us up enough to forget about your frequent unpunctuality. Almost."

"Heh, I know that." Then the pink-haired kunoichi tilted her head slightly and arched her brow. "Ino…you are surprisingly…sedate today. I wonder why?"

It was true, for normally the blonde was the loudest and rowdiest female among their little group of four, and would definitely descend upon Sakura like some hell-bent goddess on a roll had she been late for even a minute. Sakura watched uncomprehending as Ino started to fidget.

"Oh, don't bother too much about that." Tenten started to grin. "Our Ino is just in shock. She will recover soon enough."

Sakura frowned slightly.

"In shock?"

Hinata was the one who answered Sakura this time.

"Hai, Sakura. S-shikamaru-kun p-proposed today." The Hyuuga heiress replied, her pale eyes glinting with happiness for her friend. Ino started to blush when Sakura stared at her with her mouth open.

Almost immediately the pink-haired female let out a squeal loud enough to deafen all the occupants in the café.

"Ino-pig, this is great news!" Sakura all but leapt across the table to engulf the blonde in a congratulatory embrace. Her blonde friend had been going out with the lazy ANBU head tactician for almost four years already, though she certainly hadn't expected the indolent Nara to get off his ass and finally ask Ino for her hand in marriage. She quickly pulled back from the smiling girl and mock frowned at her. "Yamanaka Ino, I want all the juicy little details. So spill. Now."

"Yep, we so definitely want to know more. Was he romantic? Did he get down on his knees?" Tenten laughed, clearly imagining a sour Shikamaru going through all the trouble just for his Ino; her voice a low trill that turned heads towards their table.

Hinata smiled beatifically.

"Hai, Ino-chan. Shikamaru-k-kun must have done something r-re-eally dreamy to put you in such a d-d-daze." The three girls smiled knowingly as each other as Ino flushed a most becoming shade of rose. Sakura giggled.

"Shikamaru was that good huh, Ino-pig? He must be, for you to be blushing and speechless for so long! Ooh, I have a feeling that he is going to set quite a standard for Naruto to follow next, eh, Hinata?"

The Hyuuga turned a rich tomato red, and Tenten joined Sakura in her mirth. Even Ino had to smile at the mental image of the Kyuubi-vessel attempting to be romantic. That would have been even worst than Shikamaru's fumbling but utterly sweet proposal to her earlier that day.

"Hey, hey, quit teasing poor Hinata-chan. I'm the one who should be in the limelight today, you know." Ino quickly regained some of her sass back. She waved carelessly at Sakura and Tenten, grinning slightly when their eyes widened at the brilliant sapphire princess-cut engagement ring that sat prettily on her left ring finger. "Any more details about the proposal will have to wait until tonight; I'm afraid I'm just too hungry at the moment to narrate well enough to give justice to Shikamaru's amazing proposal."

Hinata, Sakura and Tenten looked at one another, identical glint of mischief glimmering in their eyes. It was obvious that their normally outspoken friend was still slightly bashful about the entire thing, but it was just too bad that her friends were just much more determined in digging out the details from her. It was going to be plain delicious, they just knew it.

But at the moment, they could certainly afford to bide their time.

"Fine," Sakura answered at last, a small grin flirting with her pink lips and her emerald eyes bright with happiness for her closest friend. "Until tonight, Ino. You can't hide anything from us tonight!"

Sakura had to cough to mask her evil grin as Ino's cheeks stained pink.

Oh, the alcohol that she would be paying for tonight were going to be so well spent!

* * *

When he saw her again, she was pickled to the gills and singing loudly in such a horribly off-key tone that he was sure everyone in her building could hear her, never mind the fact that it was almost three in the morning.

He had watched hidden under the cloak of darkness as she slammed her way noisily through the front door and then staggered over to him before running into his form and bouncing backwards uncomprehendingly.

"Who are you?" She had squinted up at him then, her slightly glazed emerald eyes bewildered by the fact that there was what looked like a human door blocking her way to her bedroom. She hadn't turned on the lights of course, the switch seemed to have mysteriously moved themselves somewhere she could not find, but the moonlight was evidently sufficient enough to provide her the view of the vague form of a man covered entirely in black.

The living barrier did not reply to her question and she giggled promptly at his lack of response. Of course he wouldn't say anything! Barriers don't talk…do they?

Then she frowned.

But he's a _living_ barrier…

'_How do you know that he's a living thing anyway?_' An equally sloshed Inner Sakura mumbled drowsily.

Right. How did she know?

Her frowned deepened, then cleared almost immediately. She knew exactly how!

With no thoughts of the repercussions of her actions whatsoever she reached out and pinched the figure on what look like his limb, peering carefully at his face for a reaction as she did so.

There wasn't any, and Sakura felt utterly disappointed.

"You are living; you are supposed to react!" She pouted lusciously, all pink succulent lips and deliciously flushed cheeks.

Crimson eyes darkened.

"You are drunk."

Sakura's pixie-like face scrunched up as the deep, velvety voice made her spine tingle in a way that she was not sure whether she liked or not. It sounded awfully familiar though; had she ran into this particular man-door before?

She widened her eyes, brilliant emerald dilating as she tried to look at the male's hidden features. Her brows furrowed when she could not make out anything other than for a pair of mesmerizing crimson eyes, which for some reason or another, gave her a serious feeling of déjà vu. She didn't like it at all.

"Do I know you?" Sakura asked almost innocently, her small face lifted up to try to see the male better but to no avail. He, on the other hand, could see her captivating moon-kissed features as clearly as the light of day.

A low, masculine chuckle.

"Yes, you know me."

Sakura looked confused. "But I don't remember you at all."

If she squinted a little harder she would have seen that small enigmatic smile that crept onto his face.

"That's alright." He breathed softly as he lifted a pale, elegant hand to her right shoulder, resting it upon the snug little top that she had worn for the outing. "I remember you."

Sakura watched in a dazed manner as he slipped long, artistic fingers under the collar and slow dragged the sleeve down her right shoulder, the slightly callused palm sliding sensuously across her silky skin as he did so. Her breath hitched at the almost sinful sensation.

"…what are you doing?"

"This."

He lowered his dark head to her smooth creamy shoulder and laid his lips almost gently against the small puckered scar residing there. Her emerald eyes widened at the soft touch, then fluttered shut as she instinctively fell limp in his hold. Crimson orbs flashed minutely with recognition—and approval. Her primal side had recognized his chakra signature to be the same as the one that now resided within her, and had willingly accepted him.

"Nnnnnggh…" Sakura released a soft feminine grunt when she felt something wet and warm lap lazily at the delicate hollow of her shoulder blade. His touch…had made the ever present ache go away. Still feeling the warm and hazy effects of her alcoholic indulgence, the pink-haired kunoichi thought nothing of tilting her head further to the side to allow the unknown male access to her sensitive skin.

It was true that Sakura might be under the influence of the potent liquor that she had downed like water earlier, but Itachi certainly had no qualms taking advantage of it. Her state of drunkenness was simply too entertaining for him to pass by, and when the normally irritable medic started to wrap her mango-scented arms around his neck for leverage, masculine approval thrummed softly from him, his attention still focused wholly on reinforcing the Uchiha crest that now marked her as his.

Sakura turned her face into the crook of his neck, mewling softly when he did that little thing with his tongue. "Don't stop…" She murmured thickly as she nestled her nose against the skin on his neck, sighing softly in response to that low rumble that erupted from his chest. Then she pressed her face deeper into his neck and inhaled lightly. His musky scent flooded her head, made her feel even headier than ever. "You smell good, man-door…" She snorted softly, then rubbed her own lips against his pulse point in an entirely erotic manner that had him growling in response to her innocent provocation. Her pink tongue darted out, took a quick swipe at the small patch of skin that she had been nuzzling the entire while. He stilled momentarily at her daringness, and she made a little sound of satisfaction. "You taste good too…"

And with that last sentence she succumbed to the effects of alcohol and finally drooped asleep, leaning against him for support and leaving him with a raging hard on.

He did not move from his position against her shoulder for a long time, only shifted her slightly in his arms so that she would fit more comfortably against him, her head lolling gently against his shoulder as he did so. He took in her intoxicating scent, all the while slowly calming his rampant blood down. He had known even in the cave when he was blind and unseeing that there was something about this kunoichi that stirred his blood. He just hadn't been aware that his reaction to her would be this intense. He continued to tend to the irritated and reddened scar on her shoulder almost thoughtfully as he pondered on what to do next.

It was obvious that she was a weakness, and he still had no idea why his weakened self had chosen to claim her as his.

There was no way that she could have known that he had been blind from the start, and even with his fever and injury he could have easily snapped her neck had he sought to. He remembered that he had certainly been enraged enough to end her life, especially when she had informed him that she had him firmly bound to her.

If there was anything that Itachi loathed with a vengeance, it was being chained up.

And yet he had voluntarily tied himself down to her.

The vicious part of him had bayed for her blood, but then his clinical and more detached side had carefully observed that she was quite powerful in her own right, and that she had managed to heal him to near recovery when he had been absolutely incapacitated and clearly awaiting death mere days ago. That kind of healing prowess was something even he had never seen before, and that had been what had saved her life.

Uchiha Itachi may be a vicious killer, but he respected power above anything else.

Her amazing healing capability should only have prevented him from killing her though, not prompt him to mark her with an ancient seal so old that it had only lurked in the back of his mind unused up till now. He vaguely remembered the marking process at all, but the sensation was etched deeply in his mind, so much so that he hadn't been pleased at all when he still found himself affected by the then unknown female when he had awoken to her absence. He remembered clearly her voice as she tried to deny his seal; the feel of her body as she struggled to be rid of him, her scent made even more alluring by the rapid rush of adrenaline, and lastly the taste of her chakra-infused blood as he bit into her tender flesh, and had to admit now that he was satisfied that the intensity of his memories hadn't been amplified by his illness as he had originally suspected, but had actually originated from the woman herself.

Itachi straightened slowly, and studied the petite form of the kunoichi for a long time. Her face was smooth and milky, her cheekbones high. She possessed wide, pouty lips and long dark lashes that fanned her cheeks gracefully as she slept, as well as a long narrow nose that had saved her from looking more like a porcelain doll than a full grown woman. Her long pink hair was unusual in both color and texture and would definitely make her stand out like a sore thumb among other kunoichis, but yet there was an exotic quality to it that he had never seen on others before. Her body was sleek and muscular as he had expected from a shinobi, but still retained soft womanly curves that made holding her a pleasurable activity.

Crimson eyes narrowed imperceptibly. His conclusion was simple.

She was powerful.

She healed his eyes without even knowing it.

She was dangerous.

She fascinated him.

She was a weakness he could not afford to have.

He knew what he had to do next.

Itachi laid his hand against her slender neck, the fluid movement deadly in its precision and just as dispassionate. In the dim moonlight, the dark shade of purple on his fingernails appeared a stark black against the backdrop of her snowy skin. The pulse on her throat beat a strong, steady rhythm under his thumb, and it would be so easy for him to apply pressure until that vibrant song of life was completely snuffed out.

It was the only way to remove the powerful binding seal that he had placed on her.

A quick twist of his hand and the prodigious disciple of the Godaime Hokage would be no more.

The files had indicated that she was a good five years younger than he was, and he hadn't expected for someone so young to possess such amazing healing abilities that should only be gained through time and experience. But then, he too, had been a genius; been born the most powerful seed in the Uchiha clan. His combat skills had easily surpassed other shinobi three times his age even when he was barely a child, so he didn't really find it odd for her to excel extraordinarily in the medical field. There was one thing that perturbed the Uchiha though; and as the Akatsuki stared at the sleeping female in deep contemplation, he realized just what it was that had been irking him.

Her disheveled appearance, her unpretentious demeanor, was totally incongruent to the power she withheld within her.

It was oddly intriguing.

She shifted subtly then, and Itachi's attention was drawn to the amusing way she wrinkled her nose with irritation. The Sharingan user stilled when she released her next breath in a contented sigh before tightening her arms more securely around his neck and shifting her face nearer to his throat, her nose nuzzling his skin almost affectionately before she settled back into deep sleep.

Such trust behind her unconscious action stunned him.

Kunoichis were not supposed to be so trusting towards anybody. To show such vulnerability towards him, an S-class missing-nin, was unbearably stupid, not to mention suicidal. It revealed to him that she was very emotional, and therefore weak and pretty much useless. He should kill her now.

He didn't.

She might have been foolish enough to show him such unwarranted trust, but he had never had to deal with such_ innocence_ before and just for that alone she had aroused in him a curiosity that only she could quench now.

He dropped his hand easily from its deadly perch on her neck, the smooth pale skin unmarred and flawless. Sakura would never know how closely she had come to dying this night.

Clear crimson glittered fiercely in the darkness.

"You have sealed your own fate, little girl."

* * *

Kisame grunted softly in acknowledgement when his partner appeared silently by his side near the outskirts of Konohagakure. It was nearly dawn, it was cold as hell and it was about time the Sharingan user got back from his little visit to his ex-hometown.

The shark man slanted a passing glance to the small feminine bundle that the Uchiha now held closely to his chest. Even in the darkness, the shock of pink hair was unmistakable, and the taller Akatsuki smirked with amusement.

"I will be damned." Kisame eyed the petite Konoha medic currently curled up tightly in his partner's arms, currently fast asleep. "So this is the woman who had been powerful enough to heal your eyes." He arched his brow slightly at Sakura. "She doesn't look like she possessed that sort of chakra control though."

"Her appearance deceives." Itachi answered succinctly, his gaze focused somewhere on the lightening horizon. Kisame knew better than to think that the other male was just staring blankly at the scenery. Knowing Itachi, his brilliant mind was probably mapping out the route that they were going to take later.

Kisame 'hn'-ed and kept silent, discreetly eying the unconscious female with blatant curiosity in his gaze. It was in his opinion that she seemed too small to be a kunoichi, let alone one of Jounin level but the hitai-ite partially covered by her hair clearly indicated her shinobi status. She wasn't particularly beautiful or breathtaking either, just oddly pretty in an innocent way. He wondered what foolish courage she possessed to have decided to heal his Akatsuki comrade; Itachi wasn't exactly well known for his gentle nature and sweet personality. He was more of the type to bite the hand that feeds him, so as to speak, and it had actually surprised the Kirigakure missing-nin that he hadn't killed her after using her services.

In fact…

Kisame's almost nonexistent brows arched slightly as he watched Itachi's chakra's react to that of the female in his arms, and vice versa.

It was almost as if his energy was trying to merge with hers, which actually wasn't surprising at all, judging by the fact that Itachi had sealed some of his chakra within her body. However, it was the unconscious movement of that of the pink-haired female's that interested him. Her energy was reaching out to Itachi as well, and that was very odd because the seal was only supposed to go one way. His chakra within her was supposed to bind her firmly to him, to make her yearn for his proximity and stay as close to him as possible but as it was her own chakra strands were slowly enwrapping themselves firmly around Itachi as well, and what amazed the shark man was that the Uchiha did not seem to mind it at all.

Interesting.

"She came willingly?" Kisame asked gruffly then, not wanting to be caught paying too much attention to the petite medic-nin who had snared the interest of his fellow comrade. It wasn't often that Itachi became fascinated with a female, but Kisame knew enough about his partner that he guarded his possessions with the tenaciousness worthy of a relentless bulldog, and that he sure as hell doesn't share.

A soft sound escaped the Sharingan user, and crimson eyes glittered faintly with amusement.

"She was drunk."

Kisame grunted once more. "She's really considerate eh? Makes your work so much easier."

"Hn." Itachi finally turned his attention to his partner. "We return to the headquarters-"

"_Uchiha Itachi_."

The angry yelp broke through the silence of the forest, and both males looked down to the female who had been the source of the jarring sound. Her eyelids were tightly clamped over her emerald eyes and she appeared to frowning something fierce, but Kisame was surprised to realize that she was actually still sound asleep. Then she relaxed as quickly as she had stiffened, shifting subtly and pressing her face against Itachi's cloak as she made an irritated noise at the back of her throat.

"Get the hell out of my dreams, perverted Uchiha bastard…"

Stunned silence.

Kisame had to fight hard not to laugh at the aggrieved grumble from the little kunoichi. His white eyes flew straight to the stiffened form and expressionless face of his comrade and he totally lost it. The shark man barely managed to contain his laughter in snorts and grunts. He really doubted that there had been anybody who had dared called the great Uchiha Itachi a pervert to his face—and survived to tell the tale. It was lucky that she was asleep, or he was sure that Itachi would have done something drastic. But still…

Pervert.

Twitch.

Twitch. Twitch.

Kisame's facial muscles cramped from the effort not to roar with laughter.

"Kisame." His partner was not amused. "If you are done having fun at my expense…"

The Samehada wielder recovered quickly at the stoic tone. Itachi might have his hand full carrying the entertaining female but he was certainly not above employing the Sharingan on his annoying partner if need be.

A toothy grin still visible on his face, Kisame inclined his head immediately. "Let's go."

The duo disappeared into the forest top, traveling at a high speed that was not decreased even by the added burden of Sakura.

"Hey, Itachi," Kisame remarked as they swiftly made their way across the countryside. "The seal that you have used on her shouldn't affect her thought processes right?"

Silence, but Kisame was used to Itachi's irritating habit of taking his own sweet time answering questions.

"Yes." Itachi responded at last, his crimson eyes utterly focused on his surroundings and less on the conversation that Kisame was trying to keep alive between them.

"Hmm. Interesting." The shark man kept his small white eyes to the front as he continued to talk. "Very interesting. She dreams of you but yet she is unhappy about the situation. Don't you think that it is very interesting?"

"Hn."

Kisame ignored the monosyllable; Itachi wasn't the talkative sort anyway, but that was perfectly alright. Kisame could articulate well enough for the both of them.

"Hah, she seems to have a very amusing character too. Now this is going to be very interes-"

"Kisame."

The blue-skinned male tilted his head to glance at his partner.

"Yes?"

Crimson eyes glinted.

"She is mine."

_

* * *

_

:tsuzuku:

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

I know that the relationship between Deidara and Itachi isn't at all as congenial as I'm portraying it to here. I know that Deidara actually hates Itachi to no end, but I have no plans on changing anything here to make them more canon-ically similar. As a result, I have also decided that Tobi is going to be Tobi, i.e. a very good boy.

There will be no evil Madara plots whatsoever in Hanami. Happy?

I certainly hope so.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Regarding Itachi's nickname for Sakura, 'little girl', well, I have no idea what prompted me to use that, to be perfectly honest. It's meant to be condescending, of course, but who knows? Maybe it might turn into a term of affection later on.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

As for Sakura's drunkenness, I'm aware that she's a kunoichi and all, but I doubt that even ninjas could control their overloaded senses if they imbibed too much.

Just look at Neji and the Curry of Life. 'Nuff said.

Therefore Sakura's inhibition when it came to Itachi is expected, not to mention that she's also under the influence of the seal.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Last but not least, Kisame is blue, sharky love. I just have to mention it, but I'm sure a lot of people would agree with me on this. Believe it or not, writing Kisame is fun, and you will probably be seeing more of him in the future.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

--paws


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Hanami

**Author: **paws-bells

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Word Count:** 6834

**Rating: **M (Contains content suitable for mature teens and older)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 22/04/08

**

* * *

**

Chapter 4

* * *

Sakura was warmly greeted by the mother of all headaches when she finally woke up.

Cloudy emerald opened to a hazy view of a darkened room before quickly closing again. Sakura emitted a pitiful whimper. Her hair was all tousled and wild from last night and she felt as if something had crawled into her mouth and died there. The dehydration was very bad, and Sakura just felt like curling up to die. Her head felt as though someone had just used it for a pincushion. It throbbed painfully, her lips were dry and slightly cracked, her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton and she could not seem to form a coherent thought other than pain and nausea. Worst of all, the persistent ache on her shoulder seemed to be pounding in tandem with the drum-like beats in her head, doubling the misery for her wretched self.

Good god, she was never going to get drunk again.

At least, not _this_ drunk.

Lying stilly on the bed, Sakura battled the worst migraine she had ever suffered from as the events of yesterday unfolded slowly in her mind. Unlike Naruto who would be blessedly oblivious to all his often embarrassing antics when he woke up sober the next day, Sakura was not that lucky. Her sharp mind recorded every single detail down to be processed later even when her current inebriated state could not. The pink-haired kunoichi has yet to decide whether if this was a good thing or not. There were just some things that she preferred to forget.

Like her blatant flirting and very suggestive invitations to various males in the bar, said group of males inclusive of her very amused sensei Hatake Kakashi and even the feared, if not slightly bewildered Morino Ibiki of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force.

Sakura winced. She was going to have to do some serious apologizing for her absurd behavior later.

She also remembered challenging the girls to a drinking contest, not that they weren't plastered enough as it was. Sakura lost count of the number of martinis that she had downed, and in good sport both Ino and Tenten had followed her, drinking to their hearts content and celebrating Ino's engagement to Shikamaru. It was a good thing that at least Hinata had the good sense to stay sober, and since no one had dared to mess with the powerful Hyuuga heiress with her even more powerful Jyuuken style of combat, the girls were safe from any harassment of the masculine kind whatsoever.

Sakura remembered enjoying herself (far too much) and that somewhere along the line Hinata must have called Shikamaru and Naruto down to the pub. The males had been astounded by the overall smashed state of the three girls, what with them all flushed up and giggling and still asking for more liquor. Shikamaru had refused flatly in a rare display of authority and after the tab was settled had muttered his usual catchphrase of 'this is troublesome' before hauling his dazed fiancée into his arms and escorting her homewards, ears tinted red as an enthusiastic Ino threw her arms around him and announced for the world to hear her affections for the Nara male.

With the couple gone, that left Hinata, Naruto, Sakura and Tenten. Hinata had coaxed Tenten, the less drunk of the duo, to stand whereas Naruto had gingerly pulled his pink-haired teammate up, all the while nimbly avoiding chakra-infused fists as the female loudly resisted his attempts to bring her home. Somehow Naruto managed though, and before long had deposited the singing Sakura on her doorstep with his girlfriend and Tenten in tow. Then they quickly left; no doubt to deliver the weapons specialist to her home as well.

Sakura had managed to find her way into her house, and then she had ran into—

The door creaked open.

Sakura's form stiffened at the sound. Her eyes flew open and she regretted it immediately, slamming her lids close before the damage became too great. It was too late though; the lights hit her optic nerves and screamed a most painful message to her brain, a message that she should have received the first time she opened her eyes.

This was _not_ her room.

Her eyes opened once more and she winced inwardly as light jarred her head, but not as badly as before. She glanced around her quickly, or rather, as quickly as she could given her current state of being. Thankfully, she was still dressed. She was on a futon that wasn't hers and the room that she was in was large and simple, the colors dark and the theme masculine. There were no windows whatsoever to alert Sakura to the time of the day and she gaped at the rich furnishings of her surroundings and wondered where in the seven hells was she. Then she remembered the creak of the door that had alerted her to an intrusion and she almost did not want to find out the identity of the person whom she now sensed was standing by the doorway of the room.

For the memories of last night had clicked with the memories of four days ago, and with a sense of pure dread Sakura lifted her eyes to meet glowing crimson ones.

Itachi looked almost amused by the look of horror that graced her hung over self.

Sakura squinted, narrowing her eyes to allow the minimum amount of light into her painfully over-sensitized optic nerves.

He was dressed entirely in black. A fitting shirt clung to his lean, muscular physique, and he wore loose pants that emphasized his narrow masculine hips and long legs. Long ebony hair tied at the nape lingered down the side of a collarbone and down the front of a well defined chest. He was casually barefooted, but there was no relaxed air that accompanied the male. The slight tenseness of his shoulders told Sakura without words that this Uchiha was always on the alert and ready.

Sakura quickly blinked once, then twice, hoping very optimistically that the mirage that was the deadly Akatsuki would disappear.

Nope, it wasn't working. He was still there, leaning indifferently against the doorframe and staring blatantly at her.

This wasn't a dream, Sakura was dismayed to realize.

"_Itachi_."

Sakura winced inwardly at the hoarse croak that she had managed. It hardly sounded menacing at all, and her throat ached from having to forcibly spit that one word out. Once again she vowed never to overindulge on alcohol again. Sakura quickly pushed herself up slowly to a sitting position. It wasn't exactly the best idea, for the sudden movement drained all the blood from her head and made her feel even weaker than ever, and she weaved dangerously in her seat, blinking furiously to dispel her dizziness as she did so.

Itachi watched her in silence, and Sakura scowled at him. A morning person she was not, and combined with the deadly hangover she wasn't exactly in the mood to cower and simper before the deadly Akatsuki.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" She asked indignantly. A wave of nausea descended upon her then, and she quickly closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she grimly waited it out. He continued watching her.

"Heal yourself."

She opened her eyes to stare at him. Of all the things she expected the Sharingan user to say, this was clearly not it.

"Why do you care?" She retorted as she gingerly lifted her hands to massage her head.

Sakura's next breath was expelled in a squeak when he appeared before her suddenly, the deadly crimson eyes bearing into hers and not allowing her to pull away from his gaze at all. The dull ache on her shoulder spiked abruptly to an intense longing, and Sakura gasped, clutching onto the scar with her hand. Dazed emerald eyes stared bewilderedly at the enigmatic male crouched so silently nary a foot away from her, not understanding at all the reason why her breathing was suddenly so shallow and why her heart was fluttering frantically like a dove's wings.

She only knew that _he _was the cause of her pain.

"…it hurts, doesn't it?"

He was looking almost curiously at the cursed spot on her right shoulder, and Sakura stiffened. To admit the existence of the mark would be to admit her involvement in healing him, and that would not do.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

He cocked his head slightly at her clipped answer.

"I know your identity, little girl. Have you really forgotten everything that had transpired between us last night?" Crimson eyes narrowed imperceptibly, then swept down to a lazy half mast. "Have you really forgotten it all?"

Sakura reddened. She remembered all right. Lips, tongue, scent. Low chuckles, soft purrs, mewling need.

Emerald eyes widened.

_He_ could take the ache away.

Sakura bit her lips as the throb on her shoulder intensified, heating up with impatience. Her breath hitched softly at the sensation; it didn't hurt in the physical sense, but the longing was doing weird things to her body. Increased heart rate, shortness of breath, increased sensitivity of the skin, high adrenaline. Emerald eyes turned smoky, low pants escaped pouty pink lips, soft silky skin were tinted with a delicious flush, and the hangover had all but disappeared.

She was getting aroused by his nearness.

Sakura was frantic beyond belief. This should not be happening! And right in front of him too, of all people! Long dense lashes hid her eyes from his gaze as she looked quickly to the floor. She did not like the dark gleam in his crimson eyes; it told her that he knew exactly what was happening to her—and was enjoying every moment of it.

It had to be the seal on her. It _had_ to be.

Sakura wasn't stupid. She was slowly beginning to understand why this seal was employed on the brides and the concubines. It made one… extremely uninhibited in the presence of the person who had evoked the seal. Sakura gritted her teeth as she fought the increasing tendrils of unnatural attraction towards the dark-haired male crouched enticingly before her. It took all her will not to listen to Inner Sakura's husky urgings to go to him, to rub herself against him in that scandalous manner that she had done the night before, to touch her lips against his strong pulse point once more, to lick his neck in that lazy feline manner, to touch his lips with her own.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut tightly and shook her head fiercely. She had to fight this! She had the excuse of alcohol yesterday, but there was simply no justifiable reason for her to hide behind if she went to him now. She growled softly. She needed to fight this!

Itachi appeared amused by her determination to resist the urgings of her raging blood. She was trying so desperately not to fall against the powerful onslaught of the enemy, and he silently awarded her points for sheer tenacity. It wasn't easy for most to deny the pleasures of the flesh, and utterly impossible for those who were afflicted with the binding seal.

"_Kunoichi_." Wild emerald eyes burst open at the lazy purr. She stiffened. She had not even noticed that he had shifted so near to her now that his mouth was just millimeters away from the sensitive skin of her ear. His scent enveloped her hazily, and Sakura's resolve began to crumble. She clenched her fists to keep from whimpering an answer to his low voice, and tried to scoot away from him.

That he could not allow, but he did not make any move to touch her either. It was imperative that she came to him this time, _on her own will_.

She stared at him, her gaze misty and despite all the emotions that were inundating her person now he could still easily detect seething anger, anger directed purely at him. Her feisty nature impressed him; not many could work up the will to be enraged at the very person hormones were dragging you towards.

"Remove…this…seal…"

Her voice shook.

He looked at her.

"This seal is irreversible."

Emerald eyes widened with horrified shock.

"…what?!"

"Come to me." He said simply. Sakura shook her head jerkily.

"No…!! Tell me more…about this…seal…"

Blood-red Sharingan orbs drew her helpless gaze towards it. Unrelenting. Merciless.

"Come to me, and I will tell you." A calculated pause. Then,

"_Sakura_."

She trembled finely at the way he said her name. The low tone, the lazy roll of his tongue, the languid purr. She bit the insides of her cheek to keep from whimpering a response.

"Stop…that!" She hissed, enticing emerald eyes wide and slightly glazed.

"Stop…what?" He was so near, so very near that she could feel the heat radiating off his lanky body. Sakura forced herself to still, forced herself not to close the last few millimeters before them.

"Stop doing this to me!!" Emerald eyes cleared quickly, quickly filled with impotent anger. "Let me go!"

Crimson eyes hardened.

"No." Itachi looked at the shivering form of the petite woman before him. The ache would increase the longer she denied him, and it has already been four days since he had sealed his chakra within her. She needed to accept him, soon, or there were going to be consequences to pay.

"You are going to die if you continue your path of obstinacy."

Sakura sneered.

"Yeah, like you give a damn about my wellbeing or lack thereof!"

He looked coolly at her. "It is my duty to look after what is mine."

Sakura was sure that she would have slapped him if she wasn't certain that she could bear touching him and not react to the feel of him against her hand. As such she could only gape at him in blatant disbelief.

"I'm not a piece of property and I am sure as hell not your anything!" An angered pause, then, "I don't even know why you are targeting me in the first place. I didn't do anything to you!"

He gave her a long look that told her without words how very much he believed her hasty words, and Sakura had to clench her fists as she fought not to react visibly to his crimson gaze.

"Would you like for me to prove you wrong, _little girl_?"

Sakura stiffened at the silkily delivered pet name that slipped out from Itachi's lips. It had been the same one that he had used on her when he had been blind, feverish, and half dead.

_He knows. _

It couldn't be.

Itachi withdrew something from the pocket of the black pants that he was wearing. It was a strand of hair, silky and long. Feminine. Pink. Sakura's eyes widened.

"You-"

"I was blind when you came across me during the snowstorm." The Akatsuki cut in quietly. He wasn't ashamed of his vulnerability, and showed no embarrassment or resentment towards it. He merely spoke factually, pointblank and simple.

Sakura's eyes widened with shock.

"...you were blind…?"

Itachi smiled humorlessly at her stunned tone.

"The frequent usage of the Mangekyo Sharingan comes at a high price."

Mangekyo Sharingan. The ultimate doujutsu of the Uchiha clan. Sakura stiffened.

Uchiha Itachi had probably used it to murder men, men with wives and families, men with children and sweethearts waiting for them back home. Sakura's hazy mind worked overtime to digest the facts.

He had been blind. His eyes had been that shade of dark onyx in the cave, glazed and slightly cloudy. Understanding occurred to the female medic. No wonder the cells in his optic nerves had felt so…depleted…when she had blocked off his nerves with her own chakra. It hadn't been energy exhaustion from the fight that she had assumed Itachi had been embroiled in that had caused his injury. The dying cells had been caused by the overuse of chakra, and fool that she was, she had allowed her chakra to slowly mend and repair those cells during the seventy-two hours that she had blinded him.

Sakura stared into those deadly crimson eyes as the true ramification of what she had done finally hit her, and hit her hard.

She had unknowingly given his sight back, and with it the ability to use the Sharingan.

Blood drained from Sakura's face.

"I…"

He stared at her aghast face with a dispassionate mask.

"You were the one who healed me. There are only two women in this world with the trademark inhuman strength as well as the perfect chakra control needed to recover my sight. The Godaime Hokage of Konoha and her prodigious disciple." Sakura gazed blankly at the incriminating piece of her hair that he was absently stroking between his thumb and forefinger. "You were careless, Kunoichi. You left a calling card on my person before you ran off, and that confirmed your identity."

Sakura was still brooding over the fact that she had all but single-handedly 'brought back' one of the most dangerous killers in the five countries. It was going to be on her conscience every time he kills from now on, and Sakura felt even more like fainting when she thought of the consequences awaiting her if Konoha ever learns of this.

The deathly pallor on her face did not go unnoticed.

"Do you regret what you have done?" The taller male asked with dark amusement.

Sakura weaved dangerously in her seat on the futon but she did hear Itachi's words loud and clear. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he merely raised a lazy brow in return.

"No." Sakura spat out at last. "I make it a point not to dwell on things that have already passed me by."

He looked at her almost curiously.

"That's not what I asked, little girl."

Sakura gritted her teeth. How she hated that condescending nickname! The pink-haired kunoichi trembled as she kept herself from doing anything rash, like jumping on him screaming and scratching, or _kissing_ him into promising never to call her that again.

Inner Sakura was extremely helpful and immediately provided her counterpart with a very _carnal_ mental image of Sakura and a certain elder Uchiha doing the exact same thing.

Sakura was immediately appalled, but even she could not deny the increasing ache the mark on her shoulder was causing on her being. She shut her eyes for a little while to gather herself together before opening them again.

"No. I don't regret healing you, Uchiha." Sakura whispered at last as she lifted truthful emerald orbs to stare into his Sharingan gaze. "It's true that you may be the biggest bastard that Konoha has had the misfortune to produce-"

Itachi narrowed his crimson eyes imperceptibly at her insult but Sakura forged on undauntedly. "-but luckily for you the choice of whether you live or die does not lie in my hands." The pink-haired kunoichi smiled softly to herself, unaware that the rueful tilt of her lips made her even more beautiful than ever, and that the amazing change had attracted the utmost scrutiny of the male nary a feet away from her. "I am only a medic-nin, sworn in to save lives. Besides, what kind of human would I be if I were to do nothing in the cave that day and watch you die a slow death?"

"You would have been a smart one." Itachi observed. "Your meddling in the business of strangers has caused you to be abducted away from your village, and bound to an S-class missing-nin for life."

At this point would be where he had predicted that she would hiss and curse at him and finally learn the hard lesson that being a Good Samaritan wasn't always as rewarding as most make out to be. As usual, she just had to surprise him.

Sakura shook her head slowly, obviously disagreeing with him. "No, I would have been a selfish and heartless person if I did not extend my help. Selfish, because I would only have been thinking of my own convenience; and heartless, because I would have to be totally unfeeling to leave a man with a massive chest injury to die all alone in the freezing cold."

Clear verdant eyes stared unflinchingly back at him even as her body shook slightly.

"I guess that I can blame no one but myself for this current predicament that I have landed myself in." Sakura smiled deprecatingly at her own folly.

"I was stupid to have left my guard down around you even when you were injured and delirious from sickness. I was foolish to have believed that for all your intelligence you would have been able to grasp the very simple concept of gratitude but clearly I have confused you with someone with a conscience."

Sakura had been speaking softly at first, but by the end of her tirade she was clearing yelling at the dangerous male before her, body trembling from both her fury as well as from the effects of the seal.

Itachi appeared hardly affected by the kunoichi's passionate speech.

"You are angry with me." The male had a slightly odd look on his face as he said that, but Sakura was too fired up to notice.

Glittering emerald eyes narrowed at his arrogance.

"You think?" Sakura's voice shook with anger. "You were supposed to be recuperating in the cave that day! I didn't expect you to feel gratitude for what I have done but you didn't have to go and attack me! Why did you perform that binding seal on me?"

"You were a threat."

That was an answer Sakura did not expect at all. She was so surprised that the wind behind her sails deflated a little. She gaped at him.

"I was a threat?" She parroted dumbly. "I was the one who dragged your ugly backside back from hell, Uchiha. Why the hell would I want to kill you after I depleted almost all of my chakra to bring you back to life?"

Itachi looked coolly at the foul-mouthed little kunoichi, his poker-face revealing none of his surprise at hearing her words. He had known that his injuries from those hunter-nins had been extensive, but he certainly hadn't expected that this famous and well-respected healer from Konoha would risk everything to pull an Akatsuki from the brink of Death.

Carefully, Itachi filed away the piece of information to be further analyzed later.

"You fought me."

Her eyes flashed, and he found himself increasingly intrigued by this passionate little female.

"In case you forgot, _you_ were the one who started strangling me against a wall for no reason whatsoever!" Sakura winced minutely as the mark on her shoulder started to heat up with her agitation. Her small gesture of discomfort did not pass unnoticed.

"You blinded me."

"I _healed_ you!"

"Exactly." Itachi sat down on the futon, one long leg bent casually as he continued looking at her. Sakura was too focused on the conversation to even notice that he had moved, let alone the fact that he was now nary an inch away from her. "If you are powerful enough to channel your chakra thusly, you are a threat."

Her jaw dropped at his totally illogical answer. She scowled at him.

"You kill those who are less powerful than you are; you kill those who you think are too powerful. You have this odd obsession for power. Are you trying to make up for something?" Sakura sneered. The Sharingan user looked at her amusedly.

"I'm sure that you will find nothing of me lacking, _Sakura_." The pink-haired kunoichi stiffened at his soft purr. "Perhaps you would like to check it out now, hmm?"

It was all she could do not to gape at the Akatsuki in shock.

Was he _flirting_ with her?

Sakura turned a dull red.

He smirked slightly. She truly was innocent in all manners.

Sakura's embarrassment was quick to fade when she saw the curl of his lips. She would never admit it, but that enigmatic smile made her heart beat even faster and that made her even angrier than ever. The Uchiha emblem on her shoulder flared once more with her volatile emotions.

"Uchiha! You-"

"A binding seal can kill the vessel if the one who evoked the seal choose not to accept the vessel." Itachi cut off the kunoichi easily.

Sakura froze quickly at the implication. Stunned emerald met detached onyx.

She wasn't stupid, and it didn't take her long to figure out what the Akatsuki had premeditated. It was a brilliant plan considering the fact that he had been half-conscious and badly injured when he had thought of it. Sakura could only applaud his genius and wonder why on earth she hadn't suspected anything before. Of course someone like Uchiha Itachi would have repaid kindness for something worse, but deep down she hadn't really believed that he would…

"You are going to let me die."

He kept silent, and that was an answer in itself.

Shock was wearing off quickly, and Sakura's mind was running into overdrive.

She felt desperate fear. She was only twenty! She certainly didn't want to die yet, but even she knew that there was no way to escape a binding seal other than death. Worst of all, Sakura could not imagine what her friends would do if they found out. The thought of worrying Naruto and the rest did not sit well with her at all; she loved her friends too much to want to put them through this, not to mention the possibility of her death...

The cursed mark on her shoulder throbbed painfully as if reminding her of its presence, and immediately dazed emerald eyes quickly cleared with determination.

She cannot die.

There must be a way to destroy this seal; she just had to find it! She was through playing mind games with the Uchiha. To hell with him!

Sakura got up to her feet blearily. Itachi made no move to stop her, crimson eyes easily tracking her movement.

"I don't believe that there is no way to remove this seal." Sakura determined obstinately. She started to move away from the Uchiha. "I-"

Sakura hissed suddenly when the seal on her shoulder _burned_. Tears sprung to her emerald eyes as her knees buckled involuntarily and she fell back onto the futon besides Itachi once more. It was as if someone had just poured the most potent of acid onto her shoulder, and it was literally _eating_ her flesh. The mark seared painfully and Sakura could feel the raw wound throbbing through her shirt. She bit her lip to stop the whimper of pain from escaping her mouth and tugged down the side of her collar to reveal the red and angry Uchiha crest pulsating on her shoulder blade. A soft gasp escaped from Sakura.

The seal would not allow her to leave his side.

Itachi shot the petite female a long, measured glance.

Sakura never felt more like crying than at this moment.

"I am…_stuck_ with you?" She whispered then, the look on her face aghast.

He did not take his eyes off hers.

"Come to me."

Sakura shook her head immediately, her eyes suspicious and starting to shoot furious emerald sparks at him.

"No."

With a determination that clearly surprised the Uchiha, Sakura got onto her feet once more and tried to edge away from her captor. She ended up on her knees again, the pain even more intense than the last one had been. Her petite body shook with the pain, and it took her longer to recover this time. However undaunted, Sakura tried once more as she braced herself for the pain, shakily climbing to her feet and forcing herself to move.

One feet.

Each, small, anguished step felt like it took an eternity for her to accomplish. The burn was so much stronger than ever, but Inner Sakura had decided to help and was effectively numbing away the worst of the pain. '_We are together, I can't have you fainting like this and embarrassing me, right?' _Her alter ego had huffed gruffly, and never was Sakura so glad to have her inner self than now. Two personalities meant double the willpower, and _they would not give up_.

He watched her, eyes cool and calculating, wondering how far she would go before she would break down to beg him for her life.

She did no such thing.

Two feet.

Sakura breathed quick and shallow breaths as she reminded herself repeatedly not to focus too much on the agony; there was after all, only so much Inner Sakura could do, but it was almost enough. Blood started to flow from the raw and smoldering mark, and Sakura forced herself not to pay attention to the pain as well as the sickening smell of metallic rust that accompanied it. Her stomach churned and the pink-haired kunoichi was inwardly glad that it was empty. If she didn't manage to survive this day at least she wouldn't have to meet her Maker with vomit-stained clothes. Only the ironic humor of the situation and sheer willpower was keeping her upright now.

He found himself reluctantly impressed with the amount of inner strength she possessed.

Three feet.

The scent of charred flesh inundated the air, and Sakura felt as if her skin was slowly being peeled from her. Sakura's lips bled as she bit them in her effort to stop herself from screaming in pain. Failure was not an option, and she did not want to be bound to the deadly Uchiha for life. This pain would be worth it, the pink-haired kunoichi convinced her self. There was bound to be a pain threshold, Sakura was sure of it. She was bound to possess a pain threshold. The medic-nin kept telling herself to push on; once she passed that limit it wouldn't hurt anymore, but until then, _she had to go on_.

He knew she had to be in sheer agony, and yet she forged on with a stubborn determination that he had seldom seen in others whom he had met. It was oddly fascinating, and a part of him was immediately possessed with the curiosity to know what made this little female tick.

Four feet.

She was crying. She hadn't cried since she was thirteen, but now she was crying. _It hurt so damned bad_. She hadn't even been aware of the saline tracks making their way past the bridge of her nose until she had tasted the salt mingled with the drops of crimson fluid that escaped her badly bitten lips. Agonized nerves twitched and spasmed violently, but still Sakura forced herself onwards. The Uchiha crest was almost worn away to nothingness. Anytime now. Sakura refused to believe that the seal would not disappear. _Failure was not an option._

He was beginning to realize that she had less common sense than an average housefly, and that irritated him.

Five feet.

The burning intensified; became so bad that even Inner Sakura could not prevent the pain from being felt by her alter ego anymore. Sakura was weeping openly now, her shoulders shuddering violently with her pain. Blood stained the entire side of her right arm, slick and wet. It was a morbid testimony to what the petite female was bravely going through. Sakura vowed to herself that if she ever managed to survive this, never would she ever forget this day, and what she had pushed herself to do.

The raw wound on her shoulder glowed a fierce fiery orange, exactly the color of steel when being forged in the strongest of fire.

Crimson Sharingan eyes widened imperceptibly.

The seal flickered slowly, and then increased in speed, almost like a dying flame desperately holding on to its last vestiges of life.

Then it disappeared.

Sakura gasped with sweet relief. The pain was gone. She collapsed onto the wooden floors with a limp thump, but her mind worked quickly for her to realize what was going on. The seal had opened. Now was her time. She gathered the remnants of her chakra to eject Itachi's energy, energy that he had used to bind her to him from her body, barely able to support her own weight with her arms.

He was by her side in an instant. Sakura tried to edge away from the enigmatic male but was too depleted from her physical exertions to do so. She focused all her energy on forcing his chakra out of her body instead, emerald eyes hard with determination.

"Look at me."

Sakura lowered her head and centered her gaze on the floor. He gripped her by the chin and tilted her head up. Half of his chakra was out now. Her breath hitched as the remaining energy within her body reacted to his touch. She squeezed her eyes shut. He shifted his stance, the almost undetectable movement an indication of his growing impatience.

One third left, Sakura chanted to herself resolutely. One third left.

"Little girl." He whispered. "_You try my patience_."

One quarter.

"I won't let you go so easily."

An almost gentle caress against her cheek had her stiffening with shock, and the feel of warm lips against hers caused her eyes to fly open.

Indescribable crimson met stunned emerald, and Sakura could not draw her eyes away from his at all. Instincts told her immediately that he was going to use the Sharingan on her; she needed to let out all of his chakra!

Sakura pulled herself from the daze that pair of mesmerizing red eyes was doing to her system, and tried sluggishly to pump out the rest of Itachi's chakra. He knew what she was doing and his arms snaked around her waist quickly, the sleekly muscled limbs easily dragging her over to his lap. She squeaked into his mouth, and it was the opportunity that he was waiting for. He slipped his tongue skillfully into her, eliciting a strangled whimper from her.

His addictive scent, the taste of him in her mouth, the hazy warmth that his proximity was emitting was more than enough to stop her from doing whatever she was doing at the moment. Already dazed by the ordeal that she had gone through earlier, Sakura was beyond bewildered. She did not know why he was kissing her suddenly, and worst of all she did not know how to respond to this entire situation at all. Was she supposed to struggle, was she supposed to fight her way out of his tight embrace?

The treacherous Inner Sakura whispered then that staying within the circle of his arms wasn't all _that_ bad.

Itachi swept his tongue against her teeth, coaxing her wordlessly to open her mouth for him, and at the same time, his hands rubbed slow calming circles against the small of her back. Emerald eyes fluttered shut at the unexpected sensation, and Inner Sakura sighed. Sakura wondered vaguely what it would be like to kiss him, really kiss him.

It must have been the fact that she was still painfully dazed, it must have been the fact that she wasn't thinking properly at all, but she darted her tongue out shyly, and was immediately greeted by an approving purr.

Itachi quickly took over, pressing her body even tighter against his and forcing her mouth to open even wider for him to plunder. He explored her sweet mouth meticulously, and quickly showed her how to rub and twine her tongue sensually against his. It was electrifying; it was as if there were delicious slivers of ice running up and down her spine and Sakura had never felt this way before. She had never allowed any males to come so close to her before Itachi had forced his way into her life, and she had no idea what this was all about.

It did make her wonder what else she had been missing out on, though.

Sakura mewed blindly when he withdrew from her roughly, hard crimson eyes harsh as they bore into hers.

"Accept me, Sakura."

"…wh…what?" The pink-haired kunoichi murmured thickly, not understanding the sudden sense of urgency that pounded in the air.

"Accept me."

He wanted her to complete the seal again.

Sakura shook her head blindly. If she exchanged the bond with him she would be irrevocably tied to him for life. She would have to be dependent on his affections to prevent the mark on her shoulder from acting up and it was a frightening thought. Sakura was a free spirit; she didn't want to rely on anybody for her survival. Besides, after all the agony that she had went through to open the seal, there was no way that she was going to close it back this easily now.

The strong arms around her waist tightened minutely and Sakura's attention was immediately brought back to Itachi. She shook her head once more.

"No…"

She wanted to be free of the seal, and she was so near to doing so. Determination filled the pink-haired kunoichi once more. There was only a little of his energy within her left. She could do this!

Sakura was so weakened by now that she was literally relying on Itachi's support to keep herself upright. Gathering what's left of her chakra, Sakura quickly continued to purge her system of his energy.

Crimson eyes narrowed at what she was doing. Didn't she understand the workings of a binding seal?

"Foolish little girl!" Itachi hissed as he shook the petite female in his arms lightly. He hadn't been this angry for a long time. She whimpered. "My chakra is permanently merged with yours; you are draining out your own energy. Desist immediately!"

Cloudy emerald eyes widened. She stopped immediately. Sakura's frame shook from the exhaustion. No wonder she felt so depleted.

"I…"

"Accept me now, Sakura." It wasn't a request; it was a command to be heeded.

"…why?"

He knew what she was asking.

"You are mine."

"No!"

Crimson eyes stared at hers unyieldingly.

"_Sakura_."

The pink-haired kunoichi struggled weakly in his arms. "Let me…go…I'm…not yours."

Sakura stiffened when he trailed his lips down her collarbone, slowly flicking his tongue against her fluttering pulse as he passed her jugular.

"You will be…soon."

Emerald eyes slipped shut.

"No…"

He flashed his teeth against her soft skin, scraping the side of her neck. Her eyes burst open and her breath hitched painfully.

"Pl-please, why are you doing this? I saved your life!"

He lifted his head, and she was vaguely surprised when she saw that he had deactivated his Sharingan. Calm onyx met confused emerald. He was so near that she could see the slivers of cobalt blue that surrounded his irises.

"I'm returning the favor, little girl."

Her eyes widened.

"You aren't going to…kill me?"

It was obvious that she was fighting to stay awake. He cocked his head at her.

"I don't need the seal to kill you."

Sakura did not understand. "Then why-"

"I protect what's mine." He interrupted her smoothly, and Sakura gave up. All his answers were doing nothing but leading her round and round the same point. It was very frustrating and she was currently too weak to even try to contradict him. Sakura deflated; the bloody wound on her shoulder was hurting something fierce, she felt disgustingly lightheaded, and worst of all Uchiha Itachi wasn't even acting like the unfeeling and bloodthirsty killer that he was. It was confusing her, and damn it, she just wanted to get out of this situation alive.

She decided to take a gamble.

"If you are planning to use me to capture Naruto, forget it. I will kill myself before you can even execute your plan, Uchiha." Sakura spoke tiredly. There was no bravado behind her words, merely the truth. Sakura would sooner die than to have any of her friends in danger because of her.

His eyes gleamed. Her fierce loyalty was commendable, but that wasn't what he was feeling so triumphant about. She was slowly caving in to him, and they both knew it.

"I don't need you to take on the Kyuubi Jinchuriki."

She glared balefully at his arrogance.

"I still don't like you."

A small, derisive curl of the lips.

"I know."

Sakura heaved a shaky sigh, then stiffened her resolved. She had made this choice already, so she was damn well going to stick to it. She might as well get it over with as soon as possible. The pink-haired medic-nin probed her clotting wound carefully with a hand before turning her attention back to the irritatingly smug Uchiha. Oh, his face was still as blank as ever, but Sakura could see that amused glint in his eyes, that bastard.

She sighed shakily once more. This should teach her never ever to help strangers, though she highly doubted that she would heed the lesson. Damn her soft heart.

"What…do I have to do?"

_

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_

:tsuzuku:

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**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

I have never had a hangover before, but to be perfectly honest a hangover is just a form of dehydration of the body. If you had overindulged with the liquors, make sure that you are well hydrated with lots of water before you conk off for the night, and I guarantee that you won't pay that badly for your indulgences the next morning.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

--paws


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** Hanami

**Author: **paws-bells

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Word Count:** 8743

**Rating: **M (Contains content suitable for mature teens and older)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 22/04/08

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Chapter 5

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It made sense that after she had stupidly ejected his energy (and in the process, her own as well) from her body that he had to replenish her now lacking supply of chakra. Needless to say the energy had to come from him, and Sakura did not like one bit how he was about to transfer his chakra to her.

"…no!" The kunoichi protested almost confusedly when she slowly realized his intentions. She tried weakly to struggle out of Itachi's grasp but to no avail. "I'm not going to let you do this to me again! Please let me go!"

It was laughable how she was being so polite now when she looked so green around the gills and almost about to succumb to unconsciousness. He wondered if it had ever occurred to her that there was nothing stopping him from letting her die, and the fierce prideful glint he witnessed flashing in her brilliant emerald eyes quickly told him that she knew, and that she was also aware of the fact that he was keeping her alive only because it amused him to do so. It obviously stung her pride that she was being kept solely alive just so as to serve as an entertaining pet to him, but she was smart enough to swallow the painful lump in her throat so as to be allowed to continue living.

"No." He easily overpowered her feeble flailing-about and drew her close, ignoring her pitiful whine as he lowered his head and latched his mouth firmly over the raw wound on her right shoulder. She gasped and stiffened in his hold, and he tightened his arms slightly as if warning her against any actions that she might regret later.

She closed her eyes the moment she felt his chakra enter her system, and tried to pretend not to have sensed the embarrassing way her own chakra had all but surged up to embrace his. She had expected it to be painful, but the way his lips had closed around her wound did not hurt at all, quite the opposite actually. It was as if the seal was craving his touch, and it had felt utterly _decadent_. He was literally consuming her blood as he surrendered his chakra to her, and she knew that she should be afraid, or at the very least revolted as he did so but all she could think, _could feel_ was how very good it had felt. It was disgraceful. Sakura could not help herself; she emitted a soft whimper as the erotic feel of his tongue against her sensitized skin started to cloud her mind and make her feel vaguely excited. Her heart pounded a frantic beat as he pushed his energy lazily into her body, and she felt her chest tighten almost painfully. God, she ached. _The exchange was too intimate_. Sakura was appalled by her own reaction towards his proximity, but that hadn't stopped the sinful feeling of bliss from invading her senses as his tongue flicked against her skin and cleaned away the blood around the edges of the wound.

She fell limp in his embrace, even going so far as to loll her head to the side to allow him wider access to her marked shoulder. Unconsciously, another small sound of longing escaped from deep within her throat. If Sakura could get out of this daze that she had suddenly found herself steeped in she would have been properly horrified. She sounded like she was _enjoying_ her encounter with Itachi! Blindly, she clutched at the Akatsuki's forearm tightly, as if not understanding the reason for her behavior. Inner Sakura merely settled down and thoroughly enjoyed the feel of having the powerful S-class missing-nin wrapped around her, purring with delight the entire while. Sakura, on the other hand, was at a loss of what to do. Logic dictated that she should get as far away from the elder Uchiha as she possibly could, but the worst thing was that she couldn't seem to make her body obey her mind's dictates. It was as if she was just a puddle of putty in his hands for him to play with anyhow he liked! Kami! As if it wasn't bad enough that she was already going to be branded a traitor in Konoha if they ever knew what she had done, but now she was going to be a shameless slut as well?!

She whimpered when he did something with his teeth and tongue, and dug her nails into the skin of his forearm when he began to suckle lightly on the wound. The feeling was utterly erotic and emerald eyes flew open. This was too much. She had to stop this before she lost all control of the situation, not that she had a lot of that in the first place. "Wh-what are you doing?" Sakura did not know whether if she liked that languid warmth that was pooling in her lower belly, and the way her heart pounded in response to his almost sensual ministrations made her feel very ashamed of herself. She shouldn't be feeling this way towards _him_, of all people!

Sakura would not deny it; she was starting to feel worried. She had to figure out what was going on, and quickly, for it seemed that Itachi was always getting the upper hand and that _would not do_. Determinedly, she cleared her hazy mind and forcibly pushed away the barrage of confusing sensations that Itachi was making her feel. Sakura had to find a way to get on an even footing with this dangerous Uchiha, or she just knew that she was going to get into even deeper trouble, not that she wasn't already.

"Let me go." With the amount of chakra he was pumping into her, she was quickly regaining her strength. The pink-haired kunoichi pushed desperately against the larger male but he did not budge. "…Itachi!"

The Akatsuki took his own sweet time withdrawing from the petite female; an elaborate and arrogant power play that was meant to show her who was in charge of this odd relationship that he had forced them into. Sakura had certainly not missed his dominant gesture, but when she saw the trace of smudged blood, _her _smudged blood, on the firm flesh of his bottom lip, she forgot all about her grievance with the Uchiha male. She froze, and seemingly mesmerized by the crimson stain, the pink-haired kunoichi watched dazedly as the tip of his sensual tongue swept out almost lazily to run across the bloodstained flesh. Sakura shook slightly.

It was morbidly erotic, and it had also served to remind Sakura just who the hell she was dealing with here.

Uchiha Itachi.

Scion of the great Uchiha Clan. Ex-Konoha ANBU squad captain. Master of the Mangekyo Sharingan. S-class missing-nin. High ranking Akatsuki member.

Graduated at the top of the Academy at age 7. Mastered the Sharingan at age 8. Became Chuunin at age 10. ANBU squad captain at 13.

Killed his best friend. Slaughtered his entire clan in one night.

And she had gone and healed him without a moment's thought of the repercussions that would follow.

Emerald eyes clouded over with wariness. He had killed before; would definitely kill again. He was dangerous, and if she knew what was good for her she would be better off crouched in a corner in a babbling mess as she hyperventilated and waited for the Konoha ANBU to rescue her or for him to tire of her and kill her, whichever came first.

She should be scared stiff of him.

She wasn't.

It was going to be the biggest mistake that she had ever made, to underestimate him, to even attempt to humanize him; she knew that very well, from experience even, but it was already too late.

Like it or not, she was already bound to him, and she might as well make the best out of it while she was at it.

She was no pushover; she was not going to let him trample all over her like some weak wallflower. Better to meet him on her own terms rather than to have him stalk her against a wall with no room for leverage whatsoever.

Sakura's verdant orbs cleared with newfound determination, and darkened Sharingan eyes flashed down at her with blatant possession.

Sakura glowered fiercely at him.

She was still locked in position on his lap; in a display of power he had easily held her in place and there was nothing she could do other than to glare at him helplessly.

"Let me go!"

Oh no, she was hardly intimidated by his fearsome reputation, and for some reason that amused him.

"You should show some respect, little girl."

He could have easily taught her a lesson in manners that she would never forget, but he did not. Her spirit was wild and untamed, and it still fascinated him to no end. Besides, she was not an underling, or a servant. She was _his_. His to control; his to do exactly as he pleased, and at the moment he was willing to indulge her little temper tantrums if only to see again and again the way her brilliant emerald eyes flashed with such passion as well as how well she would react to him without any threats or fear of the repercussions that would befall her each time she overstepped her boundaries.

Her glare intensified, and Sakura was infuriated to realize that her temper was doing nothing but amuse him even more. She hissed softly like a disgruntled kitten with its fur ruffled the wrong way and started to mutter indignities under her breath.

He had to admit that she was entertaining, if nothing else.

She was a fascinating bundle of contrasts that he could not help but develop an intense interest for. He decided that he could stay all day studying her behavior and still be surprised by all the startling differences that he could find within her. She was so very tiny in stature but yet possessing an almost inhuman strength that he knew only existed in one other; she was evidently a genius in her own right to have become head-medic to the very advanced Konoha hospital, but yet she was so painfully innocent to the brutal workings of the world. She was from the same village that he had been born in; she knew of the atrocities that he was capable of, and yet she had healed him with no expectation of anything from him in return. She should be deathly afraid of him by all rights but it was as if she was lacking in fear; and he had been in the presence of weak, simpering fools for so long already that her honest and unafraid attitude towards him was like a breath of refreshing air after a long stint in a stuffy room.

She was an anomaly, a rarity in his world, and he found that he was dangerously fascinated with her.

There really was only one thing left for him to do.

"You will lie with me to complete the seal." It wasn't a suggestion. It was an outright order. His face was now impassive, the onyx gaze blank and detached as he dropped his arms from around her to allow her some personal space. .

Sakura was still shaking slightly from the aftermath of her body's acceptance of his chakra. He had replenished more than half of her body's chakra supply but with his abrupt withdrawal away from her, the partially healed wound on her shoulder was starting to throb uncomfortably once more. Sakura was dismayed to see the raw and reddened Uchiha crest that sat innocently on her right shoulder blade once more, and would have certainly vocalized her displeasure had she missed his arrogant command.

Sakura had to pause for a long while to process his deceptively simple words. She could not help herself. She gaped stupidly at the Uchiha. Heat suffused her entire being. By _lying_ with him did he mean that-

"_Wh-what_?!" The pink-haired medic-nin managed to squeak out, her voice pitched in an aghast manner that Inner Sakura did not totally agree with. The stoic expression on the male did not change, however, and gloomily Sakura realized that he had probably never joked with anyone in his entire life. Still, Sakura could hardly believe her ears. She looked disbelievingly at Itachi. "D-did you just ask me to _sleep_ with you?"

The Akatsuki lowered his eyes slowly; long dark lashes half-concealing his mesmerizing gaze from her. "What do you know about this seal?" He merely asked her in return.

Sakura was still trying to get over the fact that THE Uchiha Itachi had just propositioned her for sex. Sex! She blinked dumbly at the tall male, and answered him quickly without a thought.

"It is a binding seal, used only by the oldest of clans. That means clans like the Uchiha, the Hyuuga and the Inuzuka have knowledge regarding the usage of this seal. Only the clan leaders can evoke the spell, and it is normally used on new brides and concubines." Sakura spat the last of the words out unhappily. "That's about all that I have managed to dig out about it, but thanks to you I am now also aware that the seal yearns for contact with the person who had evoked it."

He nodded in approval of her hard earned knowledge. "The seal was used in the past when it was not uncommon for assassins to be sent into the great clans under the guises of new brides or lovers in an attempt to take out the current head. Understandably there were not many a kunoichi who would risk their lives for such undercover assassination after the seal was invented."

Sakura did not understand. "I thought that the seal was used to bind married couples together so that they will eventually get used to each other?"

He looked vaguely amused by her innocent interpretation of the seal's usage.

"The Uchiha crest on your shoulder binds your life directly to mine. My chakra within your body has merged perfectly with your own life-force, and as such at anytime if I were to perish from any causes, the sudden withdrawal of my chakra will cause your body system to collapse as well."

It took awhile, but the implications behind his words hit Sakura hard. Oh, this was just getting better and better. She turned sickeningly pale. "_Oh. No_. Oh no. You are joking, right? Your sense of humor is severely lacking. Please tell me that you are joking."

He merely looked at her expressionlessly, and Sakura felt faint once more. "This is not happening!" Sakura hid her face behind her hands. Then she quickly brought down her hands and glared at him, all traces of painful embarrassment gone from her pretty features. "This is all your fault! How is this any better than letting you finish me off here and now? Gods, I am going to die young!"

He looked at her coolly. The Akatsuki did not understand the big fuss that the pink-haired medic-nin was making. Doesn't she realize that it was an honor that he had bound himself to her? That she would be under the protection of him, Uchiha Itachi, one of the most powerful shinobi in existence?

"…listed inside the Bingo Book, for crying out loud. You probably have scores of hunter-nins sent after you every other week. You are bound to slip up one day and when that day comes I am going to have to be your sacrificial goat!"

Her dubious trust in his abilities irritated him.

"That will not happen." He stated clearly. She huffed with disbelief.

"Oh really? So you think that you are some god-like entity now, huh?" Sakura knew that she should probably stop while she was ahead but shock and anxiety for her current situation just had her blurting out everything that was going through her mind. "Then tell me why it was that I had to patch your half dead carcass up that day?"

Once more, before she could blink that is, he was right in her face. Sakura was so stunned that she would have scooted backwards instinctively had he not restrained her with his hands on her arms.

"Do you regret healing me?"

Sakura stared, his sudden question throwing her rant off tangent. Hadn't they gone through that earlier on?

"But didn't I-"

"Answer me. Do you regret it now?" He demanded harshly, dark eyes bearing into her with a relentless intensity that she could not break away from even if she wanted to.

Did she regret healing him?

Sakura felt her helpless anger and blind panic subside as she was forced to contemplate the question that Itachi had thrown to her face like a bucket of cold water. Slowly she understood what he was asking of her. Earlier on there was no way that she could have known that her life was now irrevocably tied to his. Now that the true implications of what she had indirectly caused to her own life had made itself known to her, was she starting to regret healing him?

He was rude. He was certainly overbearing. He was cold-blooded. He had bound her to him without her permission and now she was left with the possibility that her life was going to get even more dangerous than ever from now on. Did she regret healing him?

Sakura hung her head.

"…no." She whispered at last. After all that was said and done, she could never regret saving the life of a person, and what's worst (or best) was the fact that she did not even possess enough hate within her to properly detest the Akatsuki male's action of binding her to him. And maybe, _just maybe_, this was Fate's way of punishing her for restoring the Uchiha's deadly Mangekyo Sharingan. If anything, it was she who had brought this all upon herself. There was simply no one else to blame for it.

Her reply was small and reluctant, but the authenticity behind her one-word answer was evidently more than enough for him.

"Good." His eyes never left hers. "You are under my protection now, and no harm will ever come to what's mine."

Sakura's brain stuttered to a halt at the blatantly possessive words.

_What?  
_

"Huh- wha- for the last time, I am _not_ yours!" Sakura recovered enough to hiss with displeasure. Oh, now that the shock and the denial were quickly wearing off, she was definitely feeling very aggrieved right now. As if things weren't already on their way to hell, why did he always have to bring this ridiculous matter up all the damn time?

Blood red Sharingan eyes gleamed. Sakura gasped. He had activated his bloodline limit again.

"You are."

Before Sakura could open her mouth to refute his statement, the scarlet ring on Itachi's right ring finger started to glow an eerie crimson. The pink-haired kunoichi started, staring at the only jewelry that adorned the male with unwilling fascination. Itachi, on the other hand, appeared totally unconcerned.

"Do you have enough chakra left to heal yourself?"

Bewildered by the unexpected question, Sakura's attention returned to Itachi once again. She was immediately affronted. "Of course! I'm not so weak that I can't do something as simple as that!"

"Good." In one fluid move the tall male stood up, easily towering over the less than appreciative figure of the Konoha kunoichi. "You will heal your injuries and be prepared when I return for you."

Sakura gaped at his arrogance. Be prepared for what? Then she quickly remembered what they had been discussing earlier, and immediately turned such a glaring shade of red that she was sure the color on her face was clashing horribly with her pink hair. She hadn't agreed to sleep with him!! "You-"

"Food will be brought in for you later, as well as other basic necessities that you will need. That bell rope by the futon," He gestured with an elegant tilt of his head. "will summon a servant to see to your every needs. I trust that you won't find for anything lacking in my absence."

He sounded so cordially polite that for a moment Sakura was under the impression that she was more a guest than a captive. Her emerald eyes darted subtly to the doorway of the bedroom; evidently weighing the odds of her getting caught if she tried to escape. It was depressingly high, and Sakura did not even have to think hard and long that there was no way in hell that Itachi would let her go just like that. He had went through all the trouble of kidnapping her from Konoha, and she highly doubted that he would just leave it as it is if, _if_ she managed to escape back to her beloved Leaf Village, which, once again, was another endeavor she highly doubted she would succeed.

For some reason he seemed to find her endlessly fascinating, and like a new toy (Sakura shuddered inwardly at the horrible euphemism) they both knew that he would not let her go so easily until his curiosity of her was permanently sated. Sakura slumped forward piteously. She really had no idea what Itachi wanted from her. He didn't need healing any longer and he didn't plan to use her to trap Naruto. So why was he doing all this?

"We are five hundred feet underground." Itachi's placid tone dragged her away from her confusing thoughts and her vague gaze on the doorway back to his Sharingan eyes. "There is an extensive network of caverns and tunnels that extends well past a seven mile radius, and I am not a patient man."

Sakura's eyes flashed with understanding. He was warning her against escaping him, not that she wasn't smart enough to figure that out by herself already.

"You won't like what I would do when I return and find you gone, little girl."

Sakura bristled at the awful nickname.

"Quit calling me that!" She hissed.

He merely looked amused by her ire. This little kunoichi should be more worried about his warning, but here she was, all puffed up and agitated by something so insignificant that he would have laughed if he knew how. As it was, his impassive expression did no change. Satisfied that he had told her all that she needed to know, the Uchiha started to walk towards the door, his strides soundless and precise. Sakura watched as he neared the threshold of the room, and quickly remembered the dire situation that she was in.

"W-wait!!" The pink-haired female sputtered out, panicking. "I- I didn't agree to anything! I don't care what happens, but I have never- I'm not going to…to…" she turned a most interesting shade of red. Itachi stopped and turned back to face her, studying the awkwardness that was currently painted all over her pretty face intently. He _really_ would have laughed if he knew how, but as such he merely settled for a slightly amused smirk. She looked so frantic.

What a precious bundle of feminine innocence she was. The most beautiful of women had jumped at the chance to have him grace their beds, dangerous S-class criminal or not, and he was not ashamed to admit that he had accepted some of their offers before. And yet here she was, this indignant and ridiculously bad-tempered little female, doing all she could to avoid his attentions. He didn't know whether to be amused or to be insulted.

"Sakura." His voice was low and silky, the mild masculine amusement evident in his rich tone. The velvety sound was enough to pull Sakura away from her self-induced state of near-hysteria, and she snapped up emerald eyes to look at him warily. She looked a mess; her clothes were rumpled beyond belief, drying blood coated a good portion of her right arm, wisps of long pink hair sleep-tousled and floating around her in a wild albeit enticing manner, small face pale from the excessive chakra loss and petite body trembling from her increasing fatigue.

Crimson Sharingan eyes roved lazily over the sleek feminine curves, the brilliant emerald eyes, the unconsciously pouting lips. The next few days were going to be very entertaining.

"You are going to enjoy it, I promise."

* * *

Sakura gaped stupidly at the closed door for the longest time after he left.

Then she reached behind her and grabbed roughly for a pillow. She proceeded to scream shrilly into it.

How dare he!! _How dare he!!_

Sakura screeched her indignities into the unfortunate pillow until she was short in the breath and quite red in the face. Then she lifted her head reluctantly from the white fabric, took a deep breath, then returned back to the pillow to bellow some more.

_You are going to enjoy it, I promise._

That arrogant bastard!! Who the hell does he think he is?

Oooh, she was so in the right mind to deliver a mean right hook to his smug face, that…_weasel_!! Just see how well he would enjoy that! Arrgh!! S-class missing-nin or not, he surely had this god awful ability to drive her clinically insane!

It was no wonder that he was wanted in all the five great countries; Sakura was quickly coming to the conclusion that his mama must have dropped him on his head when he was a baby. That certainly explained his clearly not quite right in the head tendencies, and the mental image of him being dropped on his head was making her feel so much better in the process.

Sakura dropped the pillow and groaned loudly.

Kami! If he was crazy, then what was she? She had saved his life, healed his eyes, and appeared so foolishly unafraid of him that she was actually surprised that he hadn't 'Amaterasu'-ed her for her insolence.

"God, I must be suicidal." Sakura muttered morosely to herself. What else could explain why she was sitting here, smack right in the middle of what must be an Akatsuki hideout, actually calmly (okay, not really calmly) rationalizing about this? "I think that I'm going insane."

'_Well, he really is a very nice specimen of the male anatomy_.' Inner Sakura chose the moment to speak. The medic-nin was immediately presented with a mouthwatering image of the smirking Akatsuki clad entirely in a tight black outfit not unlike that of the ANBU uniform. Sakura groaned again and tried frantically to erase the appallingly resistant image from her mind. She did _not_ need to see that, nor did she need to hear about the opinions of her horny alter ego right _now_!

Inner Sakura laughed at Sakura's frustrations.

'_I am you, Sakura. My opinions reflect off yours, dear heart_.'

Sakura pushed away her inner self's sly words determinedly. "Escape." The pink-haired kunoichi mumbled to herself. "I must leave here."

It didn't matter that Itachi had all but told her that it was impossible for her to leave this place, that she was how many hundred feet underground. _She still had to try_. For all she knew they could be only a few kilometers away from Konoha, and besides, the other alternative was simply too mortifying to think of.

Emerald eyes flared with agitation.

She certainly had no intention of sleeping with Uchiha Itachi just because he had dictated it to be so. She was a proud Konoha kunoichi, highly respected and well-known among the five great countries. Did he really think that she would just roll onto her back and spread her legs for him just because he demanded so?

'_Are you sure you want to know the answer to that rhetorical question?_' Inner Sakura laughed delightfully and Sakura promptly ignored her alter ego's not-so-subtle remainders of the shameless way that she had responded to him each and every time he touched her, her cheeks turning pink and her verdant gaze narrowing with frustration. Something was really wrong with her if she was here debating with her inner self about how depressingly easy Uchiha Itachi could turn her on.

Sakura shook her head and quickly banished Inner Sakura into the deepest recesses of her mind.

Right.

Escape.

She needed to return to where she belonged, and Sakura knew that it had to be soon before any one of her extensive network of friends decided to drop in on her only to find her gone. She could just imagine Naruto's explosive reaction, not to mention her Tsunade-shishou. Sakura winced inwardly. The Fifth had treated her like the daughter she never had, and Sakura knew better than most the type of hell her shishou could unleash when a situation arises.

She really needed to return to Konoha ASAP.

Sakura looked cautiously around the huge room. The masculine theme was unmistakable. The sparse furniture was made of dark teak, and the colors of the room were restricted to earth tones. The room was decorated in the traditional Japanese style; there was the heated tatami flooring, shoji screens, a kotatsu, an elegant bookcase, a discreet closet and of course the large futon that Sakura had found herself on when she had woken up this morning. The pink-haired kunoichi stood up slowly, mindful of her wounded right shoulder. She wandered around the cavernous room at a snail's pace, combing through the room carefully but there was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that might indicate that the room was bugged or that she might be under surveillance.

Sakura's brows furrowed with confusion. Either Itachi was very confident that she would heed his order to stay put or he had no faith whatsoever in her abilities as a kunoichi. Whatever it was, Sakura was both annoyed, _and_ relieved.

Well, it was his folly if he thinks that she would just remain cowering in this room like an obedient little captive. Absentmindedly, Sakura hovered a healing hand over her right shoulder, carefully closing the bloody wound. Light pink fire erupted from her palm; the healing energy knitting the torn flesh together in a matter of seconds. It was a simple procedure, one done so many times that Sakura paid little attention to it. The pink-haired kunoichi was too busy scowling at the completed Uchiha crest that had formed proudly on her shoulder once again, and had she not been too preoccupied with that mark she would have noticed that her signature light pink chakra was tinted with flames of black. But Sakura did not notice, and she pulled her energy back within her body, not aware at the least of the change occurring within her.

Sakura rolled her shoulder experimentally as she hid the mark under her shirt once more. The crest was still slightly tender, but then she didn't really need her shoulder to escape. Emerald eyes glinting with resolve, Sakura approached the sliding door soundlessly. The door slid open with nary a creak and Sakura poked her head cautiously out of the room. A chilling breeze caressed her face immediately, and it took a moment or two before Sakura's eyes could focus on the dark and long passage that was sparsely lit by the handful of dim torches embedded periodically in the rocky walls.

Itachi hadn't been lying when he had mentioned that they were underground; the air was cold and slightly heavy, and Sakura could smell the distinct scent that only underground caverns seemed to possess. There was no one loitering in the hallway and she slipped out silently from the room, sliding the door carefully shut as she did so. The tiny clap of wood as the shoji door shut completely echoed impossibly loudly in the eerie stillness of the cavern and Sakura froze, emerald eyes peering carefully into the semi-darkness for any movement. There was none; nor could she detect any chakra signatures and the kunoichi relaxed slowly. She stared into seemingly endless corridor, dark and menacing, and started to consider the overwhelming possibility of getting lost in this underground network of caverns.

Sakura paused for a moment, caught in an internal debate with herself whether to risk it or to return to the room that she had been instructed to stay in. Her eyes darted down the length of the rocky passage; it seemed that there was only one room in this long hallway, and Sakura wondered vaguely if this was Itachi's private quarters. It seemed highly plausible, and as the pink-haired kunoichi made the decision to forge on down the hallway it quickly occurred to her that there would probably be other members of the Akatsuki prowling about the hideout as well.

Sakura licked her dry lips nervously as she ran down the hallway quickly and soundlessly. Running across an Akatsuki was not an option-

'_And running into one is?_' Inner Sakura asked archly.

The pink-haired kunoichi squeaked when she felt herself collide against a human wall. Emerald eyes flew open with surprise as she literally bounced off a masculine chest. Sakura stumbled back a couple of steps before righting herself, and she almost lost the courage to meet the eyes of the male before her clad in the crimson and black Akatsuki robes.

Where did _he_ come from?! The long passage had been entirely empty!

"So you are the little pet that Itachi has been hiding away from us...un."

Sakura's gaze flew up immediately to meet amused turquoise ones. Tall lanky physique, long blonde hair, beautiful, almost feminine features…Her eyes widened.

_Deidara._

She remembered him from those years ago!

Sakura stiffened and quickly backed away from the male. She had witnessed before his amazing kekkei genkai, and therefore was not at all deceived by his seemingly harmless profile. Sakura kept her limbs loose but her body was tensed for possible combat. She stared warily at the taller male not three feet away from her, but Deidara continued looking down at her almost bemusedly. She narrowed her eyes at him, all the while weighing the odds if she could take him on if he tried to attack her.

"You are not supposed to be out here…un." The Iwa missing-nin spoke once again. His tone was still relaxed and almost uncaring, but Sakura tensed at the way his eyes cooled. She clenched her fists unconsciously, preparing herself for anything that might happen in a split second. Sakura did not know if she was going to be punished for her embarrassing attempt at escape but she would be damned if she would just sit there and do nothing while they tried to subdue her.

Sakura locked her gaze with the Akatsuki for a long time. He was not moving a muscle to even restrain her, and for her part she knew that it would be suicide to start an offensive against him. So they were locked in a stalemate, and Sakura was wasting precious time stuck here. The kunoichi was the first one to look away after what seemed like a minute of this staring contest. She needed to devise a way to get out of this-

_Wait a minute…_

Deidara watched with pleasant surprise as the brilliant emerald orbs of the petite pink-haired female flared with agitation. She couldn't have known that he had been in the passageway even before she had left the room, and it had been pretty amusing watching the look of caution and fierce determination warring on her surprisingly pretty face. Of course he couldn't let her go far; besides, she had been running in the entirely wrong direction if she had wished to escape. If she had continued down the path that she had been set on she would have reached their common living area eventually and to say the least, not all of the Akatsuki would be as lenient to an escapee as he was.

"I am _not _his pet!" Sakura hissed angrily, all her earlier apprehension over this particular missing-nin gone as she glared at him. Damn Uchiha! Did he went about announcing to all his Akatsuki buddies about having kidnapped her or something?

Deidara merely continued looking at her, a blonde brow slightly arched up. So this was the medic-nin who had been powerful enough to heal Itachi's extensive injuries as well as his unseeing eyes all within the span of three days. She looked young for her age, and was so petite that she hardly looked as if she possessed the abilities of inhuman strength as well as the perfect chakra control. The file of information that they had collected on her hadn't mention that she would be so bad-tempered and easily riled, though he had to admit that there was something _mesmerizing _about her when her temper flared.

Deidara smirked inwardly. No wonder the Uchiha appeared so seemingly entranced by this particular female, not to mention uncharacteristically possessive. She was very spirited, and certainly did not mind giving anyone whom she felt deserved it a piece of her mind, deadly S-class missing-nin or no. It was pretty…unique.

Sakura pulled herself together. She quickly pasted a smile on her face, though it was evident that it was fake judging by the fact that her left eyelid was twitching something fierce. Turquoise eyes laughed at her.

"Deidara." Sakura started pleasantly. Almost. "You are right that I am not supposed to be here. Could you by chance…show me the way out?"

Deidara could not help himself; he stared incredulously at her for a split second before bursting into raucous laughter, the merry sounds bouncing off the cavern walls and echoing back to her like a hyena's laughter. Sakura frowned. Couldn't blame her for trying, she really had no idea how to get out of this goddamned place!

The irritating Akatsuki showed no signs that he would stop making all that noise any time soon, and Sakura started to get very annoyed. The pink-haired kunoichi began to continue down her earlier path. Well, she had distracted Deidara, in a way.

She wasn't really surprised when she felt a restraining arm over her shoulders not five seconds later. She tensed, wondering if she should fight. Chakra flowed to her fists, ready for her to deliver the first punch. Sakura was immediately shocked when she felt him close a hand almost gently around one of hers.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Deidara spoke amusedly into her ear. Sakura stiffened at his proximity. "We are five hundred feet underground, pet. Your strength will cause the caverns to collapse around our ears."

Sakura clenched her fists tighter, and she stayed perfectly still for the longest moment with the powerful Akatsuki towering over her from behind like some blasphemous parody of a guardian angel. Then she deflated piteously.

He was right, of course.

She was at a gross disadvantage; she could not use her most powerful moves here. This was really turning out to be the day from hell. Sakura vowed to herself that she was never going to touch alcohol again. Her head was starting to throb, the Uchiha crest on her shoulder was still sore, she was feeling very tired all of a sudden, and she hadn't even ate a single thing after yesterday's overindulgence.

As if to agree with her, her stomach chose that exact moment to let out a mortifying rumble of hunger. Sakura promptly turned red.

Deidara chuckled and released the little female. She was really entertaining; he had to give her that.

"Hungry, pet?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. What was it about the men here and their need to give her embarrassing nicknames?

"Don't call me that!"

Deidara shrugged cheerfully, the kunoichi's agitation washing off his back like water.

"Let's strike a deal, _pet_." He blatantly ignored Sakura's aggravated snarl. "If you promise not to escape, I will take you to the kitchens."

Sakura's first reaction was to refuse flatly. She had better things to do than to visit the kitchens to eat what evil concoctions the Akatsuki consumes in order to maintain their evil, dastardly characters. She had to leave this place, damn it!

"…or you can always be escorted back to Itachi's quarters and locked inside there until he returns…un."

Sakura's mouth snapped shut immediately, effectively stopping her negative reply from ever being heard. She quickly reevaluated her options. Sakura glared angrily at the floor. She hated this, having her decisions manipulated and twisted to suit the needs of others. But she had no choice in the matter, at least if she pretended to be docile and follow the blonde around she might have a chance to map out the area and even to escape. It was definitely a much better choice than being cooped up to wait for Itachi's return.

Besides, she was kinda sorta hungry.

Sakura lifted her head grudgingly. She pretended not to see the look of mirth on the Akatsuki's face. Surely such…cheerfulness in a cold-blooded killer could not be allowed, Sakura thought grumpily.

"So, what's your answer?"

The pink-haired kunoichi sniffed.

"Just lead the way."

* * *

"You have regained use of the Sharingan, Itachi."

The tall Uchiha inclined his head once, crimson orbs glowing in the semi-darkness. The room that he was in was easily one of the largest in the Akatsuki hideout, and it was hardly surprising. It was the Leader's private sanctuary.

The man behind the creation of the Akatsuki looked up from his position behind his desk, a truly massive slab of oak, a long, considering gaze meeting the blank ones of his powerful subordinate.

"I presume that both Kisame and you will be resuming your earlier missions."

It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

The Leader made a sound of satisfaction.

It was an unspoken rule among the Akatsuki, but as long as Itachi fulfilled his priorities everything else was of his own affairs and would not be under the jurisdiction of the organization. That, however, did not mean that the Leader was not aware of what was going on under his nose. That would be beyond stupid, and they both knew that the Leader of the Akatsuki was anything but.

"Good."

The Leader returned his attention to the papers on his desk, a clear indication of dismissal. Itachi did not have to be told twice; the Sharingan user left the room as silently as he had appeared, and the cavernous space was once more occupied singularly by the founder of the Akatsuki.

The Leader lifted his head and leveled a contemplative gaze at the empty space where his most powerful shinobi had been standing but less than a minute ago.

This sudden change in situation would bear watching.

* * *

Deidara watched with muted incredulity as the pink-haired female before him devoured the second plate of gyoza in less than half an hour before reaching out to accept the bowl of piping hot tempura udon that the harried kitchen help had just prepared for her. Across the table, an empty cup of chawanmushi and a completely drained bowl of miso soup waited to be cleared.

"Oh, this looks so good!! Thank you so much for the hospitality!" Sakura called out delightedly to the older female before she had the chance to bustle off, and was immediately rewarded with a kind smile. The patrons of the kitchen weren't normally this appreciative, and Sakura was more than welcome.

Deidara was stunned beyond words when the cantankerous old bat also known at the Akatstuki's cook beamed maternally at the pink-haired kunoichi. Hell has officially frozen over; the blonde had never seen the sour old woman smile before, and it was shocking that he was looking at it right now, not to mention highly disturbing.

"You are such a sweet little girl!" The obaa-san replied in a raspy voice. "And such a healthy appetite too! Tell obaa-san if you are still hungry after this; obaa-san will cook for you anything you desire!"

Sakura pinkened slightly but nodded. "Don't worry, I will!!" They both watched as the cook cleared the table of empty dishes before ambling into the kitchen once more, and Sakura sighed blissfully when she caught a whiff of the delightful Japanese noodles that had been set before her.

She hadn't planned on touching anything that had been prepared by the Akatsuki of course, but when Deidara had led her through the intricate maze of tunnels that had been carefully warped by powerful spells of genjutsu into confusing passages and channels and at last to the brightly lit kitchens, there was no way that Sakura could refuse the offer of a freshly prepared meal by the kitchen help.

For one thing, the kitchens had not been what Sakura had imagined it to be. Of course she hadn't expected for the members of the Akatsuki to fend for themselves in the culinary department (dangerous S-class missing-nins or no, they were still _men_ after all), but she certainly hadn't expected that there would be a fully functional crew of cooking professionals ready to serve the dining needs of the Akatsuki anytime they required it. It had really been an unbelievable surprise, and after Deidara had calmly assured her that he was not going to poison her to death (she had made him eat the first mouthful of food just to prove his point) as he had no intention of suffering the wrath of Itachi, she had decided to take the gamble. Besides, the cook on duty had really reminded her of Chiyo-baa-sama, and she was _really_ hungry.

"Are you sure that you can finish that…un?"

Sakura paused in the act of delivering the chopsticks full of delicious udon to her mouth. For a split second she appeared disconcerted by the slightly disbelieving look on the face of the Iwa missing-nin; then her contented emerald eyes narrowed and she slipped the noodles into her mouth, chewing slowly as she shot him a dangerous look. Her free hand fiddled agitatedly under the table.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked immediately after she swallowed, her chopsticks poised for the next helping of udon. The food was really delicious here; it was just too bad that she could not enjoy them in peace. Sakura fed herself another chopstick full of the Japanese noodles as she waited for the blonde's answer.

Deidara eyed the way her emerald eyes darkened with enjoyment as she slowly savored the taste and texture of the food in her mouth, and continued watching her as she quickly darted a pink tongue out to lick her lips clean of the soup base that she had missed, her expressive face revealing how very appreciative she was of the delicious meal that had been prepared for her. This was one kunoichi who clearly adored eating, and he had to admit that she had a _sensual _way of handling her food that made watching her a most enjoyable experience.

Turquoise eyes gleamed with sudden understanding; she was certainly full of hidden surprises, and no wonder Itachi found her so fascinating.

"What I meant, pet," Deidara spoke at last, eyes dancing with amusement at the way she narrowed her emerald orbs at him for that offending nickname. "is; do you always eat this much?"

He had to rely on his self control to prevent himself from guffawing out loud at the look of utter infuriation that she threw at him immediately.

Sakura was starting to get riled up all over again, and it wasn't a difficult thing to do seeing that she was regaining her energy quickly. Was that damned Akatsuki trying to imply that she ate like a pig? Granted that she ate a bit more than most females she knew, but she had always ate more than usual when she was feeling stressed, and besides-

"I have a high metabolism rate." Sakura retorted a tad too sharply as she picked up an ebi tempura from the bowl. Deidara merely looked amused by her irritation and Sakura felt her annoyance increase tenfold. Suddenly, the deep-fried prawn didn't look as appetizing as it had appeared to her earlier, and Sakura returned the piece of seafood, carefully laying her chopsticks on the half-eaten bowl of udon after she did so.

Great, he had ruined her appetite.

Sakura scowled, and wiped her mouth daintily on the serviette that had been provided for her.

Deidara cocked his head at her, looking for all the world like one of his inquisitive clay birds. "Done eating?"

She tossed the serviette on the table after another miffed look at him.

"No." Sakura answered at last. "But I simply could not do justice to the food while having to suffer the presence of someone who loves to hear the sound of his own voice above everything else."

Itachi, too, had mentioned something similar regarding the blonde's love for conversation during their first year of acquaintance, and Deidara's eyes widened imperceptibly at the uncanny coincidence.

He didn't have the chance to clarify the matter; Sakura had stood up and was starting to walk away, looking as if she was about to leave the kitchen all by herself if necessary, and that would not do. Distracted, the Iwa missing-nin jumped up from his seat and strode after the female.

"Wait," The blonde cajoled as he caught up to the hurrying kunoichi. "Aren't you being rude…un? Attempting to run away now that I have fed you?"

Sakura halted in her footsteps. She turned to regard the cocky male. "Technically, you didn't feed me. The obaa-san did." The pink-haired medic-nin paused for awhile, then sighed. "But I guess I do owe you my thanks and apologies. So, thanks for the meal, Deidara-san."

She bowed perfectly to him, and he was impressed by her politesse. So the bad-tempered kunoichi had excellent manners when she chose to display it. Deidara nodded his head in acceptance, then frowned slightly.

"What do you have to apologize to me for…un?"

Her emerald eyes gleamed wickedly, and he realized too late the genjutsu that she had set in motion at the same time when she had appeared preoccupied with her bowl of udon. All around him, the last rain of falling feathers that she had somehow managed to conceal from him drifted lazily towards the ground, and he stiffened.

_Nehan Shoja no Jutsu. _

Turquoise eyes widened in realization. Her unusual eating habits had been an unexpected distraction, and so was the way she interacted so easily around him, a deadly member of the Akatsuki. Deidara cursed himself.

He had let himself be distracted.

But there was still time.

Quickly, Deidara's hands came together as he started to perform the long string of counter seals for the deep sleep technique. Sakura looked almost guiltily at the glare the Akatsuki was directing at her.

"I really am sorry. It was very kind of you to help me thusly." Sakura muttered with remorse, and Deidara knew there and then that she had timed her moves perfectly. There was no way in hell he would be able to break out from the genjutsu in time.

Deidara was angry, but the anger was directed more at himself than at the sly female standing almost apologetically before him. Most of the feathers had disappeared by now, and it was just a matter of seconds before the genjutsu kicks in. It was all he could do not to gape in incredulity at the sorry look on the kunoichi's face; really, what respectable assassin would stand aside and look so remorsefully at a job well done?

In the split seconds, it quickly occurred to Deidara that this female was one formidable opponent, both powerful _and_ smart. It was a dangerous combination, and he supposed that he had to be thankful that she appeared to be too softhearted to be properly bloodthirsty.

But still…

Did she really have to use a sleeping jutsu? He was never going to live it down when the rest hears of this.

Darkness was surrounding his vision now, and he was clearly fighting to stay awake. His knees bent slowly under his relaxed demeanor, and he felt himself sinking uselessly onto the floor in an embarrassing puddle. The pitch black of sleep surrounding his sight was extending rapid inwards, and Deidara scowled inwardly. At last, his eyelids felt as if they were being pressed under paperweights and then he could see no more. He felt himself surrendering to the effects of sleep and only one thought followed him.

_If anyone asked, it was she who had seduced me to exhaustion. _

_

* * *

_

:tsuzuku:

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

I know that the normal color of chakra is supposed to be blue, not colored by the personalities of different individuals. I have no intention of changing that to fit the canon-verse though, since the difference in chakra colors would help highlight the bond of the binding seal later on.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Poor Deidara. The Nehan Shoja no Jutsu is a sleeping genjutsu actually used in canon-verse. It is supposed to take a long time before the effects are felt, and so it's quite easy to break out from that genjutsu if detected early. I'm not really sure if the counter jutsu consists of a very long string of seals though I believe that a simple 'Kai' would suffice, but just for Hanami the long seals would be the way to deterring the illusion spell.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

You will notice that Hanami is officially M-rated now. Yes, we all know what that means, huh?

**xXxXxXxXxX**

And now I have finally edited all five chapters of Hanami. Obviously, I added headings and ending remarks, corrected repeated words and what grammar and spelling mistakes and tenses that I could detect. Hanami is a lot cleaner now, and I have even changed some things in certain chapters. I would recommend a reread, personally, before I put up chapter 6.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

--paws


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** Hanami

**Author: **paws-bells

**Beta-ed by:** FallenTenshi, ItachixSakura Forever, MelissaRose85

**Characters/Pairing: **Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi

**Type:** Continuous (InComplete)

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Word Count:** 8671

**Rating: **M (Contains content suitable for mature teens and older)

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.

**Summary: **She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.

**A/N: **I'm very aware, of course, that it has been such a very long time since I have updated this fic. As such, I have thoroughly revised the last five chapters and have also added some small changes to them as well, not to mention the formatting to make them look neater as well as the comments section at the bottom. In other words, I highly recommend a reread of Hanami, for those who are interested, that is.

**Chapter Last Revised on:** 26/04/08

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Chapter 6

* * *

Once again, Sakura was running aimlessly down one of the large, dimly-lit caverns. It hadn't been hard to recall the way out of the kitchens; it was a lot harder to rack her brains repeatedly as she struggled to remember how to dispel the various high-level genjutsu that she had met on the way. So far she had managed to identify a miserable six, and judging by the fact that she had been running for what felt like at least an hour already (and had not yet seen the same cavern a second time), she still had a long way to go in this behemoth of a labyrinth. Trapped underground with no natural light whatsoever to guide her, Sakura's sense of direction was seriously screwed, and even though she wasn't claustrophobic, the kunoichi was starting to panic a little.

A whispered sense of urgency filled her with heart-pounding adrenaline and it was all she could do to clear her mind from all the frantic thoughts that kept inundating her. Precious time was running out and she wasn't even sure if she was headed in the correct direction, and was anyone aware that she was missing already??

Sakura gave her head a fierce mental shake and forcefully steeled her jittery nerves.

No, she had to stop acting like terrified prey. Terrified preys don't think well…and _always_ get caught in the end. She had to stay calm and rational…there must be something in these vastly desolate caverns that she could use to her advantage, an edge that she could use at her disposal to surprise the enemy…

Wait a minute…

Sakura slowed to a walk, her face tinted pink from all the running and her breath slightly uneven from the exertion.

Hadn't Kakashi-sensei once mentioned something about underground caverns during a survival lesson when Team Seven was still together? Sakura's face scrunched up slightly in thought as she tried to recall that particular snatch of memory. It had been almost seven years after all, and she had only been barely thirteen then. What was it that he had said…what was that common trait that most underground caverns shared…?

Sakura frowned at she contemplated that question. She needed to recall that answer; something told her that it was going to be her ticket out of this hideout, if only she could remember more of what Kakashi had said rather than the dashing way Sasuke had looked those years ago. Sakura hissed softly to herself; why did her youthful counterpart have to be so foolishly infatuated? Her adolescent adoration of the youngest Uchiha had ended in nothing but so much heartache and disappointment, and Sakura could not help but feel infuriated for now that she had at last managed to shake away the last vestiges of emotion for Uchiha Sasuke, his elder brother just had to enter the picture to muddle her life up once more. Was she ever going to be free of those damned Uchiha?

Utterly preoccupied with her depressing thoughts, the pink-haired kunoichi absentmindedly deactivated yet another genjutsu, watching semi-cautiously as the air around her wavered for a split second before collapsing to reveal yet another newly unexplored cavern. A cold breeze brushed past her and Sakura shivered unintentionally as icy fingers of dread walked down her spine. Emerald eyes stared warily into the darkened area, scanning carefully for any movements or chakra signature. There was none, but Sakura's instincts didn't calm down at all. After all, she hadn't managed to detect Deidara's chakra until he chose to appear before her…

Sakura looked nervously out at the stretch of rocky passageway that beckoned eerily to her. Inner Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably and Sakura knew immediately that something was _very_ wrong. She stared hard into the semi-darkness, trying her best to peer into the murky depths, but once again, she could not detect a thing. Maybe she should turn back…

_You won't like what I would do when I return and find you gone, little girl._

Crap. Crap. Crap.

There was still Itachi to consider, and Sakura felt pretty foolish for having temporarily forgotten that he was the one who had put her in this predicament in the first place. Not that anyone could fault her for failing to remember that important fact; she was so busy thinking up ways to dispel all the genjutsu before her that she barely had time to worry about anything else. But now that her attention had been brought back to the dangerous Sharingan user, Sakura was starting to feel a tad nervous once again. She had, after all, disobeyed him, and she had no idea what he would do to her in retaliation. Sakura knew that she was probably taking things a little too easily and that having accidentally bested Deidara was making her complacent, but she never forgot just who she was dealing with. How volatile the Uchiha could be, how _insane_…

Sakura grimaced.

Something told her that Itachi wasn't going to be happy to find her gone, and she wondered vaguely if he had already discovered her missing from his quarters, wondered if even at this moment if he was striding swiftly down the hallway, crimson eyes, _killer eyes_, glacier-like and empty as he stalked after her trail like a relentless hunter after an unwary prey. Sakura shuddered as she felt herself turn cold with worry. Crap. Crap. Crap. Sakura fidgeted nervously. At the moment there was only one solution that appeared to make sense to Sakura.

Don't get caught.

Sakura grimaced once more. Oh, that was so easy to say, and so very difficult to accomplish. Emerald eyes darted to the icy darkness of the cavern before her once more. This really sucked, and she was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Should she ignore her instincts and continue to forge forward, or should she backtrack in an attempt to find a different way out?

Sakura's brows furrowed.

Immediately, that brilliant mind of hers started to draw a mental map of all the cavern routes that she had traveled in thus far, her excellent photographic memory serving her very well as she quickly processed and identified all the alternate pathways she had yet encountered that could serve as an escape route. To her dismay, she could only recognize four genjutsu-masked walkways and those four were so simply and sloppily covered by illusions that it was very obvious to the kunoichi that they were traps. Sakura stayed far away from those, naturally, nor had she felt curious enough to take one down to see what was lying in wait at the other end. She was too busy trying to escape, thank you very much, and had no interest in inviting more trouble.

Sakura's frown deepened as she stared sightlessly into the ominous cavern that she was now standing in front of. Somewhere deep within the darkness, a pair of unnatural golden orbs blinked open and stared at the kunoichi's silhouetted form near the dimly-lit entrance. It was but a mere second or two, and then the pair of eyes, glowing eerily in the murky shadows, quietly slipped shut again. Darkness once more.

Sakura did not notice. She was too deeply steeped within her meticulous ponderings. It was going to cost her.

Sakura's face grew grim with dawning realization. It did not take long for her to understand that whoever had cleverly created this confusing maze of high-level genjutsu and deadly traps had meant for her to go only one way: forward. There really was no choice for her and if she doubted herself for even a single moment..._she was going to be in deep trouble_. Paranoia and hesitation had no place in an area as dangerous and as highly booby-trapped as this, and nothing short of absolute certainty would get her out of here alive. It was a certainty that only one of the Akatsuki would have, having lived in these dangerous caverns and possessing intimate knowledge of each and every one of its defenses and secrets. Not her.

Despite herself, Sakura started to doubt. It was only human after all, to experience fear for the unknown and the deadly.

If she overlooked anything in here, and it was extremely easy to overlook something amiss with all the poor lighting and intimidating atmosphere that this eerie place possessed in great abundance, it would mean her death. End of story.

Sakura bit her lip anxiously and glanced worriedly into the semi-darkness before her; she had no choice but to enter. Taking one last careful scan of the murky depths that looked as if it could not wait to swallow her within its dark belly, the pink-haired kunoichi took a deep breath to compose herself and took her first step.

The kunoichi pulled her shoulders back and strode forward, body tensed in ready retaliation for possible threats and wide green eyes wary and alert. Fortunately, nothing happened as she ventured deeper and deeper into the darkness, although the heavy air of dread did not dissipate. Eventually, it became so dark that Sakura had to squint to see what was in front of her and her seemingly confident gait slowed down. Carefully, the kunoichi strained her ears as she threaded soundlessly across the cavern floor but could only hear the distant sound of dripping of water as it echoed against the rocky crevices. Everything was so normal and in place that Sakura slowly began to relax her form, although she kept her senses as sharp and as alert as ever. She was also slowly getting used to the ominously heavy atmosphere of the place, calmly dismissing it as her own fears acting up. Sakura even felt a little more positive about her chances at a successful escape.

Then without warning, the formerly firm ground beneath her feet started to loosen and everything went straight to hell.

* * *

He knew she was gone even before he reentered the room.

An innate part of him, the part that had been carefully honed and nurtured since infancy and then finally developed into a superior, almost inhuman ability, had gifted him with an extraordinary talent at reading and accurately predicting the different behavioral patterns of people. It was an undeniably useful edge that had been given to him thanks to the Sharingan, and more often than not, nine out of ten times he was usually correct at pinpointing exactly how a person would react when put in certain situations.

And as fascinating and as rare of temperament as his petal-haired captive was, she was also unbelievably predictable to him.

It was apparent to him from the very beginning that she would definitely attempt to escape.

It had taken all of three seconds for him to understand that her unwavering sense of loyalty towards her country and friends would allow her no other alternatives. Observing her brief and particularly reckless stint as she tried unsuccessfully to rid herself of his seal had also informed him that she simply wasn't the type to sit patiently to wait to be rescued by her comrades. No matter that he had already issued her a clear warning of the consequences should she be caught; there was simply no way that she wouldn't seek to return to her beloved village as long as there was the slimmest chance, and he had read her intentions as easily as he would a book. Until he managed to secure that fierce loyalty of hers for himself, it was inevitable that she would keep trying to resist his captivity of her until she at last succeeded or he could securely bind her down to him, whichever came first.

And that was precisely why Uchiha Itachi was hardly surprised when he was greeted by an empty room when he returned exactly two hours later.

It was he, after all, who had given her the chance.

And it was equally obvious that she had taken it immediately and bolted.

Crimson eyes surveyed the vacant room with seemingly careless disregard.

Then just as quickly they seemed to sharpen impossibly as their owner turned around swiftly and strode out of his living quarters, his gait long and smooth, the deliberate and accustomed tread of a natural born hunter. Predatory.

It was true that he had given her the chance to flee, but then again, it was well known among the Akatsuki that Uchiha Itachi rarely, if ever, gave in to chance and everything he premeditated was for a reason.

And most unfortunately for Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Itachi was never one to do things out of the kindness of his heart.

It was an important characteristic that she was definitely going to remember by the end of today.

* * *

Sakura cursed soundlessly to herself as she frantically moved her left foot away from yet another sudden grasping hole in the ground. It was a really good thing that she was quite small in size and thus very agile, for if not, she was very sure that she would have been caught the first time what felt like jagged roots popped out from the rocky ground under her.

Really, the kunoichi thought wildly as she kept running and dodging in the utter darkness, it would make perfect sense that the Akatsuki would have some sort of trap mechanisms planted all over the bloody place! And what was this thing that kept coming after her anyway?! The kunoichi was aware that she was at a distinct disadvantage. She had no prior knowledge of this cavern that she was currently literally running around blindly in, and she definitely had no idea how those horrendously thick root-like things operated. Were they planted all over the entire cavern floor? Did they detect her only by the vibration of her tread? Or was it both?

Sakura was so very tempted to employ a simple katon jutsu to light up the area just so that she knew where she was going and what she was dealing with, but she just could not risk it. Showering her immediate vicinity with light would definitely help a lot in planning her next step, but it would also be like pinpointing her own location like a glaringly lit neon signboard to whoever might be in the cavern or just near its vicinity, if they hadn't already discovered that there was an intruder in their midst. As if she wasn't in enough trouble as it was, Sakura really did not want to invite more.

The kunoichi cursed herself quietly once again. She should have chosen to backtrack. Now it was definitely too late for her to try to turn back; she could not see but she could definitely hear the eerie sounds of quietly slithering roots that were ringing so very loudly in her ears, together with the desperate pounds of her frantically beating heart. Things were looking pretty bad, she had to admit. She would definitely be caught, and viciously attacked, if she even tried to slow down a little in her current mad dash across the dark cavern. To make matters worse, she was also currently defenseless, save for a small pack of kunai that she had filched off the unconscious Deidara earlier on, and since she had no intention of wasting her precious supply of weapons by throwing them wildly behind her, there really was no choice but to choose flight.

The pink-haired female hissed and sidestepped blindly once more when she felt her feet start to sink into yet another loosening pile of rubble. With a soft yelp, the kunoichi instinctively threw herself to the side just in time to avoid being impaled by a lethally pointed piece of vegetation. The rush of wind that ruffled her hair told her just how close she had been to being injured, and with a powerful bound of chakra enhanced feet, the petite kunoichi leapt forth quickly to safety.

Despite the crazy rush of adrenaline that roared through her senses as she was literally running for her life, Sakura was still actually lucid enough to realize something was very amiss, and in the ninja world, things that were out of ordinary were never to be dismissed as mere coincidence, especially in a situation such as this.

And Sakura was highly suspicious; for despite her nimbleness and speed, by her mental calculations, the velocity of attacks coming from those deadly plants should have been able to hit her more than once already.

But they didn't.

It was as if they were just hovering right behind her, herding her towards a specific location.

Emerald eyes widened with immediate realization, and the kunoichi made a sudden veer to the side. Instincts, as well as Inner Sakura, were quick to inform her that she definitely wouldn't want to be where those horrid plants wanted her to be and Sakura was hard-pressed to agree. Mind whirring rapidly for alternatives, the pink-haired kunoichi quickly made a decision.

If she was firmly stuck between the front and the back, then she was going up.

Darting quickly in the direction where she roughly thought a wall may be located, the kunoichi blindly started to make a crazy dash towards the cavern walls, all the while praying that she would not overshoot and knock herself out. That would be kind of counterproductive. Circulating her chakra at the base of her soles in the exact way that Kakashi-sensei had taught her many years ago, the kunoichi tensed her calf muscles in preparation for a vertical dash up the rocky crevices.

Despite the near zero-vision condition of the large underground grotto, the pink-haired kunoichi could vaguely see a large, even darker lump of something looming before her even as she rushed faster towards it. With a desperate burst of speed, Sakura propelled herself quickly towards the rock formation, and in a matter of seconds, she was almost near enough to make a flying leap upwards.

Just a few more chakra-enhanced bounds ought to do it.

The kunoichi hopped powerfully away from the threat rushing up behind her, purposely ignoring the tentacles of vines and roots slithering quickly after her as she focused her tunnel vision on the dark lump before her.

This was it.

Sakura was now near enough to make an attempt. Swallowing hard and praying that it would work, the kunoichi threw her self at full speed towards the face of the monstrous rock formation that loomed before her…

…only to try, unsuccessfully, to dodge midair when something huge _materialized_ suddenly in front of her, slamming against her.

Hard.

Sakura had tried to twist her body to the side the very moment she sighted the large form that appeared without warning before her but hadn't totally managed to evade the collision. Pain exploded from the entirety of her left side and immediately the kunoichi felt herself falling backwards towards the ground. There was no time to do anything much other than spread herself as wide as possible so as to absorb the coming impact, and when it came, it damn near took Sakura's breath away. The back of her head must have converged against something hard and agony screamed through the kunoichi's brain. Sakura bit the inner flesh of her cheek hard to stop the whimper from escaping her lips, and just too dazed by the high fall to react quickly enough, she could only lie there when the writhing mass of vines and roots descended upon her.

Helplessly limp, the pink-haired female put up no fight when thick, powerful vines wrapped themselves firmly around her ankles, then calves. It was only when they tightened around her unprotected knees and waist that Sakura reacted violently. Forcibly pushing aside her agony, the kunoichi started to struggle fiercely. Pained emerald orbs brightened with anger and desperation.

She could not get caught now!

By sheer power of will, Sakura forced her screaming brain to function. Quickly analyzing what had happened earlier, she was very sure that the 'thing' that had body slammed her was human. How he or she had managed to appear so quickly before her she had no idea, but it was obvious to the pained kunoichi now that she was already discovered. There was no more need to be discreet. If that nin (and he or she is _definitely_ a nin) was able to detect where she was heading, even in pitch black conditions, it was apparent to Sakura that her choosing to remain shrouded in darkness would definitely be a disadvantage to nobody but herself.

And her first priority would be to get these horrendous vines and roots off her body.

Swiftly putting her hands together before the vines could get to them, Sakura quickly started to flash through a series of seals even as she gathered a ridiculously large amount of chakra from her dwindling internal supply.

'This had better work.' The kunoichi thought grimly to herself. She was getting highly pissed from all the crap that she had to take today and Inner Sakura was in full agreement.

"_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!!_"Sakura roared as she expelled pure chakra from her mouth. Reacting immediately with the air around her, a huge stream of fire coalesced to life and lit up the entire cavern. Sakura was temporarily blinded by the sudden expulsion of light but not before she managed to direct the deafening flames towards the mass of vines and vegetation that had been aggravating her so.

The injured kunoichi was savagely pleased when she heard the sizzle and crackle of burning vegetation as she managed to light more than half of the deadly roots and vines on fire. Expectedly, the dying plants started to retreat and began to loosen their hold on Sakura. The kunoichi wasted no time in wriggling herself free of the horrid mess and immediately stumbled to her feet.

Almost immediately, something damp trickled down her temple and into her eyes, and swiping it impatiently away, Sakura was not the least surprised to find that it was her own blood. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if she found herself suffering from a mild case of concussion later on.

But now was not the time to worry about that. Taking a quick physical inventory of herself, Sakura was relieved to find no broken bones. She would probably look like one big bruise later, but at least she was still fully functional. Declaring herself still fit for combat, the kunoichi quickly turned her attention to her surroundings, sharp eyes scanning the now dimly lit cavern for the other nin.

She almost missed him the first time she took a slow circuit of the vast area spread out before her. He was almost completely shrouded in the shadows save for those eerie golden orbs and the hem of the distinct Akatsuki cloak.

Sakura stiffened with dismay even as she automatically sank into a defensive posture. Suddenly, she felt relieved for not revealing her kunai to cut herself free. Judging by the growing sense of quiet killer intent roiling from the missing-nin, something told her that she was going to need all the edge and surprises in her arsenal to defeat this guy.

It was all Sakura could do to will her body to stop shaking from its previous violent abuse. Her side throbbed, her head ached and spasmed periodically, and she was only a little more than a third full on chakra. The kunoichi was also struggling to clear her wavering sight; the concussion was coming faster than she had predicted. She was going to have to end this as quickly as possible, and using mainly taijutsu as well so as to conserve her dwindling supply of chakra.

Then the missing-nin finally saw fit to step into the dimly lit area.

Emerald eyes widened.

It was all Sakura could do not to blanch with dread.

_He was huge. _

And Sakura recognized him on sight. The body resembling that of a venus flytrap, the green hair, the unnatural glowing eyes. He was listed on the Bingo Book as a spy of the Akatsuki. S-class nukenin, cannibalistic tendencies…

Highly dangerous.

This was not good.

Sakura turned pale for a brief moment but recovered with astounding speed. She wasn't the Fifth's prized disciple for nothing. Just as quickly, emerald eyes hardened and turned cold with growing determination. She would not be intimidated; to do so would mean that she had already lost half the battle. Sakura clenched her fists reflexively as a different sort of adrenaline, vastly unlike the one that had fueled her 'flight' instincts earlier, entered her bloodstream like a shot of the most potent of alcohols.

Fight.

She was injured, she was desperate, and she was cornered. For many it would have been the worst sort of combination, but not for Haruno Sakura.

For it was only in the most adverse of situations that her most vicious and insanely cunning side would come out to play.

The kunoichi closed her eyes and slowly felt herself relax. She took a deep shuddering breath and when she opened her eyes to look at the missing-nin, _something changed_.

A small, arrogant smirk lined her lips, and formerly large emerald eyes became narrower, more pronounced.

"So, those annoying plants that I destroyed earlier must be your siblings, huh?"

Zetsu, meet Inner Sakura.

* * *

Hoshigaki Kisame eyed the aftermath of a certain pink-haired kunoichi of the Leaf with a look of mild chagrin on his face. There was also a huge dollop of amusement lurking in his small white eyes.

Common sense dictated that lying on the cold, rocky ground of this huge drafty hideout was definitely not the most comfortable thing to do.

And yet, there was Deidara, sprawled right in the middle of a deserted hallway and appearing, for all purposes and reasons, to be completely out cold.

Kisame was fairly certain that the blonde didn't just decide all of a sudden to sit down and take a nap in the freezing walkway. The Akatsuki might consist of a fairly odd bunch of people, but none of them were that odd _yet_. At least, he didn't think that Deidara was that far gone. Sure, the blonde may be a little off sometimes when it came to his art and whatnots, but Kisame really didn't see how this situation had anything to do with art or clay, for that matter.

It was definitely not a clash with a fellow Akatsuki, that was for sure. There would have been a lot more blood if it was, and Leader-sama had specifically forbade fighting in the hideout anyway, so it made perfect sense to the blue-haired man that Deidara must have already met Itachi's charming little female.

It was also equally obvious that the blonde must have come out on the worst end of the encounter; if not, he wouldn't be sleeping like a baby in the middle of the hallway.

Sniggering lightly to himself, Kisame toed his colleague none-too-gently with a sandaled foot. There was no response save for a barely audible snort and some gibberish mumbling that the shark man could not decipher.

His sniggers escalated to louder chortles.

Besides his own partner, pretty boy here always insisted on looking pristine and immaculate. It was downright hilarious watching him now, all rumpled up and apparently dead to the world, mouth hanging wide open in sleep and all but drooling on himself. Kisame was sorely tempted to leave the blonde here and let all the other members of the organization witness this side of the explosives specialist, but he decided at the very last moment to show some mercy instead.

Kisame firmly believed in Karma, you see.

Besides, the poor guy was going to get mercilessly teased as it was for being bested by a little Leaf-nin, and Kisame was probably never going to hear the end of it if it was known that he had walked past the kitchens, seen the blonde in such a deplorable state, and instead of helping, had went off to gather the rest for an extended laugh fest.

So, helping Deidara would be his good deed of the month, the tall Kiri nukenin decided as he bent down, picked the smaller male by the scruff of his cloak, and proceeded to hoist him over his shoulder like he would a sack of potatoes. Deidara wasn't even jarred awake by the rough impact, and chuckling to himself some more, Kisame proceeded to head off towards the blonde's living quarters.

The tall nin hadn't even made it past the end of the hallway when Itachi appeared.

Kisame arched a non-existent brow at his partner. "Tracking down a little Leaflet, I suppose?" he rumbled with amusement.

In response the Uchiha merely glanced at the Hoshigaki's blonde burden with crimson eyes.

Kisame smirked slightly.

"Your little Leaf was quite impressive, it seems. I don't know how yet but evidently she managed to trap Deidara in a genjutsu. He is just going to have to sleep it off." After one last grin, Kisame got serious. "But is it wise to allow her to run around like that? Not all of us would be tolerant of having a captive running rampant in our midst."

There was a long silence, and then the Uchiha spoke.

"Experience is the best teacher," he responded simply.

Kisame promptly raised a non-existent eyebrow. Of course Itachi hadn't lost his little medic. He was too thorough, too meticulous to allow something as careless as that from happening. Everything that the younger male did was done to achieve his own purposes, and it was obvious that the Sharingan-wielder had allowed the headstrong little female her escapade to teach her a lesson. It was all part of a plan, as per usual of the Uchiha's modus operandi.

"Not our type of experience." Not at all tired out by the deadweight on his shoulder, the Kiri nin gave an amused grin that revealed twin rows of razor sharp teeth. "That would kill her."

Hardly intimidated by the toothy smile, Itachi stared stoically back at Kisame.

"She won't die."

* * *

It did not take long for Sakura to decide that it was going to be a bloody miracle if she managed to survive this day.

After being slammed against a jagged surface one too many times and having been impaled through her left shoulder by a poisonous root, Sakura wasn't exactly feeling very positive about her current situation.

Taunting the plant man had definitely not been a smart thing to do either. He had ignored her throughout the entire exchange, and all that she had accomplished was to make his attacks even more lethal, each hit closer and closer to her vital organs. Thus far, she was only surviving the fight by the skin of her teeth. Sakura had never fought an opponent quite like this missing-nin before. He was unbelievably large in stature, yes, but unfortunately for her, he did not share the same awkwardness in movement that larger people often do.

In other words, Zetsu was fast. Unbelievably fast.

To make things even worse, he also had this strange ability that allowed him to merge with anything and instantly travel to a new location. Sakura was still figuring out how it worked, but after trying several methods at countering his jutsu and failing miserably each and every time, Sakura had come to one simple conclusion: just keep moving.

It was bad news for her every time he melted away from her sight, and every time she stopped moving he seemed be able to pinpoint her exact location and would immediately rematerialize where she was. So far Sakura was lucky and nimble enough to evade complete capture, but every time that he appeared near her, those vines of his would erupt from his vicinity and head straight for her. It was all she could do to dodge the fierce barrage of attacks on her limbs. It was a battle of speed and endurance, and common sense told her that if he managed to incapacitate her and render her immobile, she was going to be in deep trouble.

At the moment, Sakura was darting quickly away from a huge mass of writhing vines and poisonous roots. She was bleeding profusely from her shoulder as well as from a large gash on her stomach from having partially deflected a deadly strike that was supposed to impale her through the middle. There wasn't any time for her to try to staunch the bleeding, and all the pink-haired kunoichi managed to do was to block off the lethal poison from entering her bloodstream as she continued to run from the distracting projectiles of vegetation, careful to keep a wary eye on the now motionless nin the entire while.

She was tiring rapidly, and it was obvious that the Akatsuki knew it too. It had probably been less than half an hour since the fight had began and already her breathing came in harsh pants, and it was all she could do to keep her wavering focus on the battle at hand. She was badly bruised, her shoulder was definitely dislocated and maybe even fractured, and her head was feeling quite woozy from all the times the vines had managed to temporarily capture and smash her against the cavern walls like a living rag doll. It wouldn't be long before she stopped from pure exhaustion and that was exactly what Zetsu was waiting for.

Evidently, she wasn't even worth a proper fight. Sakura didn't know whether to be relieved by that slight or not.

Both she and her opponent looked as different as night and day. The kunoichi grimaced inwardly at the most obvious difference; namely, the fact that she was bleeding all over the place like a stuck pig and he looked as pristine as ever in his Akatsuki cloak. That might be due to the fact that she had yet to land a hit on him, still. To tell the truth, this battle could definitely not be referred to as one as epic as David and Goliath. A more appropriate reference would probably be something as inane as the Giant and the pesky Fly. For all her vigorous speed training with Lee, she couldn't even get near enough to engage Zetsu in a taijutsu match; every time she tried, his vines would spring up and fend her off successfully.

This match was so hopeless from the beginning that Sakura had no idea why she was still trying so hard to fight. It was obvious that she was going to lose in the end; in fact, it was a miracle that she had managed to survive for so long. For all her attempts at an attack, she might as well be a fly hovering uselessly around this missing-nin, getting swatted away each time she came too near. In fact, the only times she managed to near him was when he came to her-

Emerald eyes widened.

_The only times she managed to near him was when he came to her. _

Sakura's exhausted mind started to whirl with possibilities.

Every time Zetsu came for her she was busy dodging and evading him. What if she went on the offensive instead? She had not had the chance to reveal her immense strength yet, so there was a possibility that he was not aware of her real identity, and she might be able to catch him unaware with her signature chakra-enhanced sucker punch. A plan started to form in her head. It wasn't exactly the most well thought-out solution, and there were definitely a lot of factors that she had probably overlooked but damn it, it was better than being a sitting duck out here. Naruto had taught her well; improvision was rapidly becoming second nature to her.

The thought of her fox brother had Sakura's bright green eyes softening for a split second. She didn't belong here, and there was no way in hell that she was going to allow herself to die here either. Emerald eyes quickly hardened with renewed determination. She had to win this fight. She had to go home. Her friends were waiting for her, and so was her family.

Sakura quickly decided that she had nothing to lose. Delving deep within herself, the kunoichi decided that she had just enough chakra for one last attempt. If it failed, that was it.

She could not fail.

There was no choice. It was definitely going to have to be a one-hit K.O. _She could not fail._

Grimly, the kunoichi mentally rehearsed her plan once before she realized that she lacked a most important piece of information.

Every time she stopped, exactly how long did it take for Zetsu to come to her?

She wasn't sure.

Sakura cursed herself inwardly for not taking note of the timing. She had to know.

There was no choice; she was going to have to perform a dry run.

Almost immediately, Sakura forced herself to slow down, to feign exhaustion. She allowed her panting to become more pronounced, and at last, limped to a complete stop.

There, she pretended take the time to look over her multiple injuries, all the while praying for the aloof plant man to take the bait.

To her secret relief, he did.

Soundlessly, the huge nin started to merge into the ground beneath him. Sakura started a mental count the moment he disappeared completely from sight.

_One. _

_Two. _

_Thr-_

He burst out from the ground beneath her so quickly that she almost failed to roll to safety. Sakura struggled to her feet immediately, biting back a whimper of pain when she failed to avoid a jagged piece of root that pierced through her side. Throwing herself forward in a desperate burst of speed, the kunoichi forced herself into a run again.

Two and a half seconds.

That was all the time it took for Zetsu to rematerialize beneath her. It was one heck of an ability that the Akatsuki had, but by now, the kunoichi had already given up on figuring out how it worked. She already had the answer that she needed. Sakura knew now what she had to do. The newly acquired wound on her side was well worth it.

Deliberately, the kunoichi made herself run further away from the missing nin before she started to fake a pronounced limp, a bloodied hand clutching her side and her face pale with agony. That wasn't faked.

This time, the kunoichi fell to a crouch, her shoulders moving up and down as she struggled for breath. It was evident to the missing-nin that this was it. The useless Leaf-nin was finally at her limit. It was time to attack again.

Sakura watched from the corner of her eyes as the male sank into the earth again. She started her mental count, all the while charging both her feet and right fist with chakra.

This was it.

One.

Two.

_Bam. _

Her one simple punch propelled her small form skywards, thus saving her from suffering the effects of what she had started.

Immediately, the ground of the cavern groaned and shook as large fissures and cracks started to originate from the point of the devastating impact. Sakura did not care about those; still airborne, her eyes searched frantically for her target. It didn't take her long to find him.

Zetsu was still half submerged in the ground when Sakura began her attack.

Imagine being stuck to the ground during a powerful earthquake.

The sheer pressure and tremendous vibration of the unforgiving ground was enough to kill a normal human being.

S-class missing-nin or no, it was definitely enough to stun the large man.

Sakura wasted no time. The kunoichi landed unsteadily back onto the ground and started to make a mad dash towards the partially stuck Zetsu. Fist cocked back, the petite pink-haired female charged up with the last vestiges of her chakra as she raced towards the immobile male.

Surprised gold met desperate, determined emerald.

The dark side of Zetsu spoke for the first time since they met.

"_This should not have happened_."

Sakura heard. She gave a huge savage grin as she neared the large male.

"You underestimated me."

A reluctant glimmer of respect appeared in his left eye just as Sakura ploughed her powerful fist into the man's jaw.

The deafening thud of flesh against flesh resounded loudly in the cavern and the force of the impact was enough to _uproot_ the large man from his trapped position in the ground.

Sakura watched as Zetsu flew up into the air in a graceful arc before falling back onto the ground again with a loud thump. He was unconscious even before he landed.

Sakura's strength promptly left her. The kunoichi sank helplessly onto her knees, eyes wide as she stared at the unmoving form of the missing-nin just a few feet away. It took her an entire minute to figure out what had just happened.

She had won.

She could not believe her luck. There was simply no chance she could have won had Zetsu taken her seriously. _She had fucking won_.

Euphoria set in immediately, and unfortunately for Sakura, so did genuine exhaustion. She had no more chakra left and had overexerted herself greatly, her wounds were considerably extensive now, and she was starting to see _triple_. The kunoichi tried her best to focus but felt even worse than ever. The urge to close her eyes now was so great that she could no longer fight it. Her eyelids felt like they were stapled to the heaviest weights, and obediently, she closed them.

She was unconscious even before she sank completely onto the ground, which was why she never noticed when the seal on her shoulder began to glow.

* * *

The cavern looked as though someone had fought most violently in it, and in a way, that had been true.

Piles of what he recognized to be Zetsu's special vines and roots littered the place and the normally pitch-black grotto was dimly lit by what looked to be a rather powerful katon jutsu. Unless Zetsu had suddenly developed a habit of setting fire to his own weapons, Kisame highly doubted that it was him who had initiated the technique. That left Itachi's little Leaf-nin.

Trailing after his silent partner, the tall shark man carefully sidestepped the large fissures and cracks on the ground that seemed to come from only one direction. Mildly impressed, Kisame arched an eyebrow as he eyed the full extent of the damage that one little, seemingly harmless, pink-haired female had dealt to the place.

Itachi was right; underestimating this little medic-nin would prove to be a very foolish thing to do.

The Kiri nukenin wandered further ahead to where the Uchiha was standing, his crimson Sharingan glowing eerily in the semi-darkness as he stared at the full scope of the destruction laid out before him. Following Itachi's line of sight, it actually took awhile before Kisame managed to see what Itachi had already discovered.

Sakura and Zetsu.

Kisame whistled soundlessly under his breath.

It was like nothing he had expected to see. The pink-haired kunoichi was so badly wounded and there was so much blood that his first thought was that she was already dead. Then he noticed the soft glow of Itachi's seal on her shoulder, not to mention the barely visible up and down motion of her chest, that signified she was still alive.

Zetsu was lying but a few meters away from the little Leaf-nin. There was no sign that he was injured but it was apparent that she had managed to incapacitate one of theirs _again_.

"She managed to put Zetsu under a genjutsu as well?" The shark man questioned aloud as he walked over to the two prone bodies for a closer look. Itachi moved as well; long, silent strides that took him before Sakura's badly battered form.

Kisame bent down to examine his fallen comrade. What he saw astounded him further.

The sensitivity of the Samehada quickly revealed that there was no residual chakra within the Kusa nukenin.

Zetsu was not under any genjutsu.

The rapidly growing bruise that was starting to encompass the entire left side of his face, however, told the real story. Upon closer inspection, Kisame discovered that Zetsu's jaw was brutally dislocated and, judging by the amount of blood trickling from the side of his lips, he was also missing quite a few teeth as well. Other than for those obvious signs of injuries, the Kiri nukenin did not detect any other wounds from his fellow Akatsuki.

Kisame's whistle grew louder as the implications of what he saw all pointed to one thing.

"Your little captive took out Zetsu in one hit." Kisame sounded extremely impressed as he looked over to the unconscious Sakura.

And to think that she had managed to do so while this severely injured…

Kisame started to grin. What an amazing little female. The blue-haired male looked at Itachi.

"I want to fight her when she is recovered."

The Uchiha gave no indication that he had heard his grinning partner. The younger male crouched down silently before his pink-haired captive, unreadable crimson eyes roving over her bleeding and injured body. Her clothes were badly ripped and dirty, there were large puncture wounds on her left shoulder and side, not to mention a large gash on her stomach, and they were all oozing poison-tainted blood. Large bruises were starting to appear on her porcelain skin everywhere he looked, and her left forearm appeared to be fractured in two places. All in all, she didn't look like someone who had just defeated two notorious members of the Akatsuki.

Common sense and the law of probability indicated that she shouldn't have been able to best Zetsu in such a deplorable state, but yet, she had. Admittedly, her fight with the spymaster of the Akatsuki had ended in a draw, but that was certainly more than what most nin could boast of. Knowing Zetsu's vicious tactics in battle, it wouldn't be surprising if she was suffering from some sort of head trauma as well, and the fact that she had continued fighting, despite everything that she had been dealt, had finally revealed to him her true character.

Her willpower was startlingly strong for someone who was as innocently idealistic as one such as herself and it seemed-

It seemed that he had grossly underestimated her.

Crimson eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

He seemed to be making a lot of mistakes when it came to her. That may be due to the fact that she possessed so many vastly contradicting characteristics that it was impossible to label her under a category and assume that she would behave as expected. She was a complete enigma, as far as he was concerned, but as he reached out to touch the pulsating Uchiha emblem on her shoulder, he could no longer deny the sense of grim satisfaction that filled him as the seal calmed immediately under his fingers.

Today was supposed to serve as a lesson to her but, because of his oversight, it had revealed to him something else entirely instead. If he had to be honest, his carefully executed plan had backfired most unexpectedly, but that was perfectly acceptable to him in this instance. He had gained more than he had lost and that was enough to placate him.

Even though it was purely unintentional on her part, she had proven herself worthy of his attention-

Worthy of his mark.

Soundlessly, Itachi effortlessly picked up the pink-haired kunoichi. It was imperative that he saw to her wellbeing immediately. From the corner of his eye, Kisame did the same with their unconscious comrade, easily hefting the larger Kusa nukenin over a shoulder with a loud grunt.

"This is starting to become a bad habit." The dry comment had Itachi looking over to his partner. "If the little Leaf keeps going through our members like this I'm not going to pick up after her all the time. It won't be difficult to set Zetsu's jaw back for him, but she is probably going to need a medic-"

"That will not be necessary."

At the cryptic remark Itachi started towards the more lived-in areas of the drafty hideout, his strides long and smooth to avoid jarring the unconscious female in his arms. Kisame easily fell into place beside his partner, though he was definitely not as delicate with his own burden. The Kiri-nin eyed the bloodied pink bundle skeptically but did not try to protest the Uchiha's decision. She was Itachi's captive after all; his to do with as he pleased and the tall shark man had no wish to interfere overly much with his partner's affairs.

"If you say so."

* * *

The medical supplies that he had requested earlier from the servants had been piled neatly by the futon when he returned with Sakura in tow. Pulling the door shut behind him, the Uchiha wasted no time depositing the injured kunoichi onto the bed.

She was lucky enough to avoid rupturing any major arteries or veins during the fierce fight, and as such, her wounds had already stopped bleeding and were starting to congeal. It wouldn't be enough to close the various injuries on her person, though, and methodically, the Sharingan wielder produced a razor sharp kunai and started to slice his way through the mangled pieces of fabric that were supposed to cover her.

Leaving her undergarments intact, the Uchiha removed the tattered remains of her clothes. Not at all flustered by the sight of the near naked female in his bed, he gave her body a cursory glance and came to the conclusion that even her physical appearance was in direct contradiction to her abilities. She was almost ridiculously delicate in build but the sleek and compact muscles that lined her limber form quickly informed him that she was a lot hardier than she looked. He dismissed her appearance and focused on her injuries instead.

Crimson eyes hardened.

The wet, obscene streaks of red that marred her uncovered form were complemented only by the ugly bruises that bloomed in large patches all over her body. Despite the fact that Zetsu had made the mistake of underestimating the kunoichi towards the end, he had been merciless as usual, inflicting as much damage as he could. Externally, her injuries were quite extensive. Itachi had no way of knowing if she was just as badly battered internally.

Itachi set to work swiftly; years of experience in treating superficial injuries apparent as he efficiently cleaned away the tainted blood and sterilized each wound with the medical supplies at his disposal. The vicious sting of alcohol against raw flesh made Sakura flinch despite her state of unconsciousness, and even after Itachi had meticulously cleaned out the wounds, the presence of potent poison was still unmistakable. It was a mild surprise to the Uchiha that she had managed to remain relatively unaffected by the deadly toxins despite being in contact with it for so long; the Akatsuki spymaster was infamous for his self-created poisons. Apparently, a single drop was enough to take down an elephant within the span of five minutes. Of course, Zetsu possessed the antidote for his venomous cocktail, but unfortunately, he was still unconscious and would not be waking anytime soon.

It was rather obvious to Itachi what had to be done.

This was an unexpected opportunity that had been literally tossed onto his lap. The kunoichi was going to have to extract the lethal poisons herself and he knew just the way to…aid her.

Even as it occurred to the Uchiha that his helping her now could be used to return the favor that she had bestowed upon him when she had selflessly saved his life, the male was just as quick to dismiss it. It was really too bad that Uchiha Itachi was never one to indulge in feelings of gratitude.

Why waste an advantage on something so frivolous when he could utilize it in much better ways?

Twin orbs of Sharingan glimmered.

Anticipation.

_

* * *

_

:tsuzuku:

* * *

**Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:**

Well, so I have finally caved to the demand of the masses and posted this. As I mentioned in the last chapter as well as on the header of this chapter (which most of you have probably missed out of sheer disbelief of this update), I have revised the last five installments of Hanami, cleaned it up as best as I could, added some formatting to make it neater and even put in some new segments to make things interesting. I would recommend a reread, for those who are interested and/or have nothing better to do.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

And yes, the rating has been changed to 'M'. There's nothing 'M'-worthy about Hanami right now, I suppose, but do check back in a couple of chapters. I can promise nothing at the moment, but the plot is still in the planning, so yes, we will see.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

I hope that the fight scene is realistic enough! My betas and friends have assured me that it didn't suck too badly, but I seldom write action scenes and so am quite anxious to know of your opinions, not to mention the supposed 'impossibility' of Sakura taking down an Akatsuki member all by herself. Bah.

**xXxXxXxXxX**

Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic, thank you.

--paws


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